The Winds Can Whisper
by TKCat
Summary: According to Naruto, knowing the cheerleaders' worst dating secrets, the secluded talk from the teacher's longue, or the fact that your best friend has been jerking off to your face for years, is completely unnecessary. SasuNaru
1. Breeze

**The Winds Can Whisper**

**A Naruto Fanfiction by TKCat**

**Summary: Sometimes, Naruto knows things he doesn't really want to know. It's not his fault, though; he can't close his ears every time a breeze blows up. That's his ability: Every secret spoken out loud is caught by the air currents that absolutely love telling him everything they know. Basically, the winds talk to him. But according to Naruto, knowing the cheerleaders' worst dating secrets, the secluded talk from the teacher's longue, or the fact that your best friend has been jerking off to your face for years, is completely unnecessary…**

**Rating: M**

**Pairing: SasuNaru**

**Genre: Supernatural, Romance**

**Warnings: Shonen-Ai (BL), Yaoi (M/M), Sexual Content**

**Beta'ed by: [Un-Beta'ed]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**A/N: Hello! I know: it's a miracle… I'm not dead. Really, I'm not. I'm just in some much stressed out situations right now, and I'm hoping to make it up to you guys by writing this. ^^ I know most of you are waiting for "WTF ILU", but due to unfortunate circumstances, that will have to wait for a while longer. Explanations can be found in my profile.**

**To tell the truth, this is sort of a gift for **_**Acire-chan**_** that I'll be working on until I can start with WTF ILU once again. I want to tell her I'm sorry for not giving signs of life over the last months, and I want to say that if she's still interested in helping me out I'm working on a one-shot request that I'd really love to have read through by another set of eyes before publishing. She's been really amazing and kind to me and my stories. She deserves a BIG hug. Thank you, Hun!**

**This is sort of the beta to one of my upcoming stories, "Taught by the Winds". Naruto's strange ability is the only thing that connects the story to this one, as this is a modern-world-AU while the other story involves more fantasy. "The Winds Can Whisper" will only be three-four short chapters though, while its follower will probably be on 12+ longer ones.**

**Other than that, please enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Breeze**

'_What—! She slept with… with him?'_

'_Yeah, it's true… unbelievable, right? She could do so much better!'_

_Make it stop…_

'_But then again, that just proves how easy she really is.'_

'_Uhu, just last week I heard she was checked up by Tamaki Isshu in our English class – and she didn't do anything to stop him! She even acted like she liked it!'_

'_Ugh! What a slut! That's so… so disgusting!'_

_Please, make it stop… I don't want to hear it…_

'_Don't go on telling everyone, though. If it gets around, it'll be bad for the squad image.'_

'_Yeah, we should deal with it internally. Threaten her position; mess with her make-up, or something. I never liked the bitch anyway.'_

_Stop it, stop it, stop it…!_

Soft laughter… _'Oh, I can't wait to see her face! Yoshino Kaede, you're going down, bitch—'_

"Just make it _fucking stop, damn it!_"

Only after the horrible buzzing sounds in his head settled down, Naruto noted the awfully awkward silence in the usually noisy classroom. It took him a second to feel every pair of eyes in the room staring at him, another to realize he was gripping the rough edges of his desk to the point where splinters were digging into his palms, and yet another one to grasp the fact that he had just had an outburst in the middle of Iruka-sensei's math class. Not good.

That was the fifth time that week, and Wednesday had just started.

Exhaling shakily and swallowing his overreacting nerves, the blond loosened his grip on the desk, wincing as the wooden needles were pulled out of his skin. He sat down properly and nursed his reddening palms underneath the desk to avoid anyone seeing the small wounds. Some people tended to overreact over such small things, like he was too dense to know what his body could take. Small cuts were far below _that_ limit.

Iruka cleared his throat, catching the students' attention. "Well, Naruto-kun," the brunet teacher spoke slowly, eyes calmly directing their attention at said student. If one squinted, slight concern was hidden underneath his strict tone. But Naruto knew he wouldn't get unnoted out of this one; of the five times this had happened this week, three had been in Umino Iruka's class. "Your choices are the principal office or the answer to exercise four point twenty-three b, please. No, the nurse office isn't even an opinion when you're really not considering _actually going_ there."

Muting out the mocking sniggers coming from his classmates, Naruto shrunk behind his worn-out, doodle covered rough book to hopefully find the answer scribbled down somewhere. Depressingly, as if his mess of a life wasn't enough at the moment, he couldn't even say he remembered doing the exercise he was asked to answer.

Ever so slightly, he regretted he hadn't at least dropped by and convinced the nurse to tell the teachers he'd been there the last time he'd been offered to go. That way he could've avoided a great deal of this mess. The truth was that Naruto really hated the school's nurse office, more than he hated the three minutes it took for his instant noodles to cook – and that was saying something. He _"heard"_ too much in there. It was more like a common chat room on the internet, filled with thousands of people rather than a sacred place to escape from his "problem". _Thanks to the God damn air-conditioning…_

And yet, the nurse office was his only excuse to get away from class when these episodes hit him.

He felt a slight rush of relief flush through him as he finally spotted the messy numbers of the exercise. After reading them out, he caught Iruka's satisfied expression. The teacher smiled pleased at his student and went back to the lesson. Naruto let on a small grin. He was off the hook – for now, anyway. While smiling wryly to no one in particular, the blond felt relieved that all the eyes from before now found everything else more interesting than him. Well, all but one pair. Turning his head towards the back, azure orbs meet with blank, dark grey ones. Only Uzumaki Naruto could read the anxiety, worry and warning hiding behind the blank screens.

Damn. Sasuke would want a long talk this time.

Sighing in displeasure, he sent a discreet glare at the window standing open at the other side of the room. A soft breeze blew by, casting a slight waft of wind into the classroom. He winced as a last buzz ran through his mind.

'—_tell Sakura at lunch. We'll get it done and over with after practice.'_

**-SasuNaru-**

Class ended, and the bell rung out to lunch at St. Lyrical Academy – or "La High", as the students dubbed the old law school that worked as the local high school nowadays. The grand building housed more than nine hundred students from the region, plus teachers and other employees, and had quite the collection of forgotten rooms, old hideaways and sacred gardens for students searching to get away. Not to mention all the secrets echoing in the walls. Naruto was convinced he was the only person who knew them all – unwillingly, at that.

For those who glanced up when he walked by, Naruto would appear to be the typical disorientated guy who always disturbed the class and got in trouble with the teachers. Those who looked a little closer would catch that there was something that made him different from others – and then they'd blame it on the fact that he wasn't exactly the most popular guy around. To those who looked close enough it was quite obvious that Naruto wasn't like any other teen around his age.

Sometimes, ever since he was a child, Naruto knew things he shouldn't really know. Secrets of all kinds found their way to him, ranging from where people kept their spare keys, to the person (in some cases this noun was in plural) they spent their moments of passion with. He wasn't psychic, or telepathic; those were theories he had scratched off of the list ages ago. Nor was he at the wrong place at the wrong time; some of these secrets, he shouldn't physically been able to know. There had been other theories swirling in his mind, but he had found ways to shut them all down until all that was left was the suggestion of insanity.

Only after he turned fourteen, Naruto understood what was happening to him, why he knew all those things. He hadn't believed it himself right away, but after weeks of testing and noting when he "heard" things, he came up with a conclusion. Every time this buzzing happened he was either outside or in a room where windows or doors stood open. Every time he heard someone's voice in his head, the howling of a wind or a breeze could be heard in the background. Every fucking time his problem occurred there had been natural movement in the air currents around him.

The answer was simple, really. As unbelievable as it sounded, Uzumaki Naruto talked with the winds. Or rather: the winds talked to him.

Naruto was no genius when it came to science, biology and every other subject connected to how the world worked, but he had followed classes for long enough to understand that all of sound he heard was actually vibrations hitting the mechanism in his ears. Using his slight knowledge, he had puzzled together a not quite secure theory on how he could hear what people had been saying when he wasn't even near enough to catch the vibrations. The air current, he concluded, could've carried the vibrations from the source and to him. The reason why the theory wasn't trustable was that if it was indeed true, other people should've been able to hear it as well. But he was the only one.

The fact remained the same, though: the winds carried the secrets to him. The winds talked to him. That was the reason why he knew all the school's secrets, plus some other things people would rather have no one knowing. That was his ability.

And he absolutely _hated_ it – especially today…

While stuffing his math books into his locker, Naruto made sure the plate in the back was in its proper place. In the outdoor PE class, just a few weeks ago, he had learned that the back of his locker was loose, and worked as a secret entrance into the fifth locker from the showers in the girls' locked room. Perhaps he'd make use of it one day, but for now he let it stay a secret. Sighing heavily, he dragged a tan hand through his blond mess of hair. _Yet another secret I'm not supposed to know in the first place…_

He was bringing out his lunch from the upper shelf when a pale hand – unsurprisingly – slammed the locker door next to his shut to reveal the presence of a mildly irritated Uchiha Sasuke. _About time,_ the blond couldn't help but comment to himself as he eyed his slightly older classmate.

Naruto had many times – although hesitantly – come to the conclusion that there was no wonder the girl population of La High absolutely adored the mature teen. Sasuke was, for lack of better words, _smoking hot_. At least from a girl's point of view, the blond could imagine. Pale skin, six feet in height, deep, dark eyes and a fair share of muscles on arms, torso and legs were top priority on the "ideal boyfriend list" for any girl that had ever caught a glimpse of _the_ Uchiha Sasuke. It was said he could even make the dreadfully boring school uniforms look like they were taken out of a soft porn movie. There was also something about a "cool hairdo", but Naruto ruled that out on the list of things he could understand people liked about the guy. It stuck up in the back like some bird had made a nest in his head and was struggling to get out – ass first.

Other than that, Uchiha Sasuke was also a genius at school _and_ a complete bastard. Any insult was thrown back at you in a way that only left room for a half-assed, stupid reply. His vocabulary could vary from extremely limited grunts to the point where you believed you were listening to a dictionary speaking (all those words, and you don't know half of them), all depending on his mood. Additionally, he was known to have turned down every single offer he'd received regarding dating and relationships since he enrolled the school as a freshman, no matter who it was asking. A complete bastard, indeed: a bastard who also happened to be the Naruto's best friend.

Sasuke was also the only person who knew about his… ability.

"Naruto…" Sasuke's voice warned as the blond smiled nonchalantly at him, as if the meaningful look he'd sent him in class hadn't meant a thing. A growl escaped him, showing his seriousness regarding the situation. "What was it this time?"

Naruto let his smile drop at the grim tone Sasuke gave him. As he thought, there was no avoiding this conversation. He exhaled slowly, avoiding eye contact to fiddle with his lunch pack as he replied. "Same shit that always happens, duh."

Sasuke gave an intolerant grunt. "I know _what _happened. I _want_ to know what you _heard_." When silence and a blank expression followed the demand, he groaned impatiently, rubbing his temple with his right hand. "Look, Naruto, I only want to help out, but if you won't talk about whatever it is bothering you now, I—"

"Well, I didn't want to know that shit in the first place!" the blond bit back, slamming his locker shut with the force of an angered bull. The sudden exclamation attracted a few puzzled glances from other students to the duo. Naruto's infuriated glare sent most of the onlookers packing, but a few still remained to stare mildly interested at the fuming blond. Swallowing his rage and exhaling some heavy steam, he once again turned to Sasuke. "Alright, I'll tell you, just not… here."

Sasuke nodded understandingly, most of the annoyance from before forgotten. "Rooftop greenhouse sound good to you?"

"Yes, that's perfect."

They quietly agreed to bring their lunch up to the greenhouse as well, both to save time and to save Sasuke from the endless line of girls waiting to sit with him in the cafeteria. Naruto personally didn't mind the girls. They were all mostly pretty faces, and some of them were smart as well – he could think of a couple he wouldn't mind dating, if it wasn't for his _thing_. It became a real pain when he ended up knowing things about the girl she didn't really want him knowing. Then again, it was because of this abilitythat he'd discovered the rooftop greenhouse. Someone who'd graduated some years ago had left a copy of the key under the fifth stone from the right of the entrance of the janitor's hut. That Naruto had learned during his summer job a couple of years back as a pool boy for the school.

Every good thing came along with a bad thing. That was another reason why Naruto absolutely despised his ability. For everything useful, something he'd rather not know anything about came along. He had a feeling that today would be no exception from that norm.

**-SasuNaru-**

The walk up the old, creaky stairs was always unpleasant. The steps were slim, the climb up was narrow, and the smell of rotten wood wasn't exactly thrilling for the nostrils – but that's usually what you got with a secret entrance hidden in the back of a broom cottage. When they went together, Naruto would always go first, seeing he was smaller and had better luck with fitting the key into the lock on the lid leading up to the roof.

Finally getting the creaky mechanism to open, Naruto lifted the lid and had Sasuke hand him their stuff, which he sluggishly threw up onto the roof before heaving himself up the hole and into the open air. Standing up, he brushed off himself before picking up his lunch, only to drop it again as a small gust washed over the rooftop. He unconsciously clutched his head, trying to block out anything trying to push its way into his head.

"Fuck…" he cursed quietly, concentrating all his energy on stopping the intruding information. Luckily, it didn't last for long this time, and all he could pick up was a meaningless giggle.

However, Sasuke had climbed up in time to see it. The raven frowned at the pathetic smile he tried giving him, sort of to say "I'm okay", but didn't say anything else. Instead, Sasuke lead the way to the greenhouse and opened the door for them. Naruto picked up his lunch and follower suit, making sure to close the door tightly behind him.

Only when the door and any other opening were locked secured, Naruto could relax. He flopped down next to Sasuke onto the wooden bench placed inside the greenhouse for potential gardeners to take their breaks. A heavy groan of exhaustion left him as he relieved every muscle in his body of the tension he had felt all morning. Taking in the calming scents of the building – flowers and greenery blending together in a heavy aroma – Naruto terminated that it was at times like these he was happy to have such a heavenly free place.

The four, green framed glass walls of the wind-tight greenhouse provided exactly what he needed when hearing voices and buzzing all the time became too much for him: shelter to rest and escape the mess his life was becoming. It hadn't always been as exhausting as this.

Before he hit puberty the buzzing had been more muted, more pleasant. But after he turned thirteen it had been like a broken radio was pushed into his head where it desperately tried to catch something useful for the (unwilling) listener. As the years passed it became absolutely terrible. Every single waft of find, every movement in the air currents, became a danger zone to him, and the air-conditioner – which hadn't had a single effect on him before – had become his worst enemy. At times, all the stress became so much that he was sure he'd have turned to self harm to keep the buzzing from starting – if it hadn't been for Sasuke.

Sasuke was just about the only friend Naruto could act normally around. Sure, he had a few other people close to him, and he used to have a lot of friends, but those relationships were often devoid of trust and honesty – at the fault of the blond's "gift", if you could call it that. Knowing things about his friends that he shouldn't know really affected him nastily. Every person had their dirty secrets, and knowing it often made it hard to look at the person as the same person you first knew.

Sasuke, however, was different. Sasuke was an unsocial creature by nature. Like said, Naruto couldn't read minds, and only secrets spoken aloud could ever reach him. Sasuke didn't share his secrets with anyone, and at times Naruto didn't even think he had any secrets to share. The point was that he never caught anything unpleasant on Sasuke. Sasuke was therefore the only person he could act somewhat _normal _around.

Naruto smiled wryly at that remark. _As "normal" as it gets when you talk to air, _he commented to himself.

Sasuke also understood him better than anyone else. Though he knew it was burning the Uchiha not to know what was bothering him, Sasuke kept quiet about it. He knew Naruto wanted some time to enjoy the peace before firing the cannon. When the blond finished up his lunch, the raven saw it as the perfect time to start.

"Well…?" Sasuke started, grey eyes drilling into Naruto's blue ones, preventing him from turning away from the subject.

"It's just… some gossip in the cheerleading squad," he finally replied after gulping down the last pieces of his food.

"And…?" Sasuke urged, scowling at the faked questioning look he got in return. "If it was only some meaningless gossip you wouldn't have reacted that way in the hallway. Tell me the rest."

"There is nothing to tell, really. I just… I…" Naruto trailed off, chewing on his bottom lip in discomfort. The Uchiha waited in silence for him to formulate his words. The blond looked wretchedly up at him. _Damn Inuzuka Kiba for opening that window._ "I know the girl they were talking about. Kaede-chan… she's a good friend of Konohamaru, you know. She's a good girl and all, but after she stood up for some lonely geek in her drama class some nasty rumors started following her. I've known for some time, but now they're starting to bundle up, and some bitches in the squad want to kick her out and shit…" He paused, swallowing to moisten his throat. "They're going to tell Sakura today at lunch, if I'm right. They said to deal with it after practice, and they went on a break earlier this week because of the painting going on in the gym."

They both grew quiet for a bit before Sasuke spoke again. "So, basically… you know that an innocent girl is in for trouble, and you're telling me that you wish you didn't get to know anything about this in the first place." Naruto nodded solemnly, agreeing to the statement. Sasuke snorted, digging his intimidating gaze deeper into his friend. "I'm not the one for honesty, justice, and all that shit, but you know damn well that you are. You're always looking for reasons not to have this gift, but you never stop to think of what good this thing could—"

"Good? This _gift_…?" Naruto interrupted, glaring daggers at the Uchiha for even trying that statement. "I'm fucking _talking to air_, bastard! And the air lets me know whatever the fuck it wants me to know, and that's mostly things I don't even need to know exists! This _gift_ of mine is ruining my fucking life! For every small _good _thing I get out of it, something ten times worse on the bad-scale comes bouncing back at me! How can you even call this… this _curse_ a gift…?"

Only heavy breathing filled the greenhouse after that. Naruto slowly realized how childish he sounded, and confirmed that by catching Sasuke's blank stare. The blond let out another breath, and then stared apologetically at his dark haired friend. "I'm… sorry," he started, and then looked away, unable to keep the eye contact with such a blank expression. "I just needed to blow off some steam. Sorry to take it out on you."

Sasuke closed his eyes for a brief second, nodding curtly to his friend as if to say "apology accepted". He then picked up the subject again. "What I mean to say is that maybe the point of it all is for you to help Kaede out of this situation."

Naruto thought about it for a moment, glaring softly at the floor. "How…?"

Sasuke shrugged at the question. "How'd I know? Try warning her; prove the rumors wrong, talk to Sakura…"

"Talk to Sakura?" the blond snorted. "Yeah, right… Little old me talk to the schools _beloved _squad leader and class president? Such popular divas are out of my league. You're an exception," he quickly added the last part as he saw Sasuke about to comment on just that. They grew into yet another silence after that. Naruto found the orchids standing a little away from them very interesting while Sasuke simply continued staring at the blond. The pair sat like that for a good couple of minutes.

"I could help, you know," Sasuke suddenly said.

A couple of seconds ticked by before Naruto burst out laughing at his friend's words. "Ha ha, yeah, I can imagine! Uchiha Sasuke taking contact with the school's cheer queen: that's gonna make a hell of an uproar, I bet ya!" He then winked over at the raven. "Thanks for the laughs, though."

Sasuke nodded slowly in reply, and the subject was left alone after that. He had accomplished the one thing he could do to help his friend through his problems: be there for him, humor him – keep him happy. That's all he could do. Naruto wouldn't let him get too mixed up in the mess his ability often caused him. The blond had been furious when he had offered to take him to the nurse a little while back, to escape the classroom. What really bothered him though, were Naruto's incredibly good acting skills. Other people were easily fooled by his act, and then they stopped noticing him anymore. But Sasuke kept noticing. He always noticed. Sasuke was also the only person in Umino Iruka's math class who noticed the wounds in the blond's palms.

Sasuke noticed because he cared. Naruto knew that. And yet, he wouldn't let the Uchiha help him any further than he was already doing. That's how it had always been.

The rest of the lunch hour was used to talk about other, less depressing things – or rather: Naruto did the talking while Sasuke listened. Unless Sasuke found something incredibly interesting, he barely said a thing in a conversation. That didn't make him any less of a good listener, though, and when being the listener day in and day out, having someone listen to _him_ for a change meant a great deal to the blond.

When only five minutes remained of the lunch hour, they made their way down and to their next classes. On his way to history, a class he didn't share with Sasuke, Naruto only had one small case of his problem. While walking down the grey, near empty hallways, he had noticed a window opened wide on the other side of the corridor. A breeze was all needed, and the noises started up again. It was a groan mixed in with the regular buzzing, nothing of importance, really.

The only thing that came to mind was that the sound was awfully familiar. Yet he couldn't quite replace it.

Shrugging it off, Naruto continued on his way to history.

Every good thing came along with a bad thing. Too bad, for Naruto's sake, the "bad thing" had yet to come…

_**End Chapter**_

**A/N: So… what do you think?**

**I'm still a bit rusty after summer vacation, I know, but I'm trying. I hope that I'll be back on track soon, so until then some cheering comments would be helpful. Thank you all for reading. *bows* (_ _)**

**-TKCat**


	2. Zephyr

**The Winds Can Whisper**

**A Naruto Fanfiction by TKCat**

**Rating: M**

**Pairing: SasuNaru**

**Genre: Supernatural, Romance**

**Warnings: Shonen-Ai (BL), Yaoi (M/M), Sexual Content**

**Beta'ed by: [Un-Beta'ed]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! Explanation is in my profile, along with my battle plan for the RB-issue. Warning for slight het in this chapter. Note at the end...**

**Enjoy!**

**EDIT: New chapter title for chapter 2. It was suggested by **_**Ai Enmaxjigoku shoujo**_**, and I just fell in love with it… xD**

**Chapter 2: Zephyr**

_I'm not the one for honesty, justice, and all that shit, but you know damn well that you are._

Those words were, strangely in Naruto's case, not the horrific buzzing of the winds pressing their way into his head. Nor were they some catchy line from a TV commercial. His consciousness…? No – they were Sasuke's words. Not a secret trying to make his brain its nest, nor one of those catchy songs that tended to stick to your mind as if they were hammered in like a nail. Just something meaningless, even stupid in the blond's head, that Sasuke happened to say… nothing that came with the wind. Not a breeze had been present when he heard those words, and yet, they had struck him like an unexpected gale, hit him dead on like the bullets of a heavy shotgun, and stayed there.

Should one believe the doctors nowadays, bullets were a real pain in the ass, or wherever they hit, when staying there for a certain amount of time. Naruto wasn't too fond of doctors, and none of them had ever found out what was wrong with him, which gave him even less of a reason to listen to them, even after they got a TV talk show (and Naruto could watch about anything on TV). He did, however, trust the guy in CSI, and in this case it seemed like the doctors and CSI agreed on one thing: bullets in one's body were seriously hard to forget.

Another person Naruto would believe anytime was Sasuke. He knew very well that his best friend had been right to an extent. Trying his best to help others was certainly a trait of Uzumaki Naruto. However, when living in constant fear of pain and headaches when no one else would even try and help you, or even notice you when you fell down in the middle of the crowd, helping others didn't seem very tempting. But then again, Kaede… she was one of the few who never told shitty lies about him behind his back. She hadn't done anything wrong, and the horrible truth was that he was going to sit back and let her endure whatever was in store for her.

_Is that really what I want, though? _He couldn't help but wonder. The accusations thrown her way was on false evidence – false evidence that Naruto could prove wrong. Or at least, he could try. It was while his mind was in this inner turmoil, playing ping-pong between wrong and right, that he coincidentally bumped into the sweet girl terrorizing his inner justice.

Kaede had been the one to spot him. She was placing her math books into her locker when the familiar tuft of blond had appeared in the crowd. Immediately, she called out to him, smiling brightly his way. "Hi, Naruto-san!" she greeted, bringing said boy out of his sea of thoughts.

Naruto glanced up hesitantly as he heard the familiar perky voice. Yet, he forced a smile as the girl ran up to him. "Hey, Kaede-chan," he greeted back.

Kaede had been ecstatic to tell him that Konohamaru finally built up the guts to ask her out. She had been waiting for this to happen for ages, turning down about every offer for dates she had received throughout her wait. The only thing new to Naruto was the first mentioned – he already knew Kaede hadn't been with anyone else. She was a really good girl. However, the nasty rumors running through the cheerleading squad told a different story: one that was going to get her into deep trouble.

That he knew for sure once he spotted a few other pom-pom chicks sending pretty nasty looks at Kaede from behind her. Being seen with the "nobody" of the class – no, the entire school – certainly didn't make the situation any better for her. _Actually, I'm making it worse just by talking to her, _Naruto concluded mentally. Guilt built up in his stomach like something bad he had eaten for lunch, and his mind was screaming for him to do something to help the situation.

He ended up giving her a soft warning. Unless she knew exactly what he meant, she wouldn't really be bothered by it. He simply hinted that she should watch her back, as he had heard some no-good rumors flying around the cheerleaders over the week. Kaede laughed it off, smiled perkily at him, and said: "No rumors can bring me down now! I feel like I'm soaring today!"

"Yeah, I guess…" he answered, faking a sort of cheerfulness. "Just keep your guard up, okay?"

She took his final warning and went along with some of her friends to her next class. Naruto had to admit, he felt a lot better after that.

_Maybe… using it like this isn't so bad after all_, he murmured to himself, a small smile slipping onto his face. It these situations, why shouldn't he be of help? Of course, he wouldn't tell everything he knew – that would label him as a peeper – but such small portions of helpful information could make someone's life easier. Suddenly he realized he was the only one left in the corridors. Glancing puzzled at his clock; he winced before taking of like an oiled lightning. Disturbing classes was one thing, but never showing up truly wasn't a part of the scenario he was playing.

**-SasuNaru-**

The rest of the day flew by rather quickly, in Naruto's opinion. Perhaps the reason was that he felt much better after talking to Kaede, or perhaps because he practically slept through it all – the latter being most likely. Another down-side of his ability: it left him exhausted. Some days, when he was fortunate not to have more than one or two of his "episodes", he'd be pretty energized through the rest of the day. Other days though, when the incidents grew high in numbers, he felt like he could fall asleep the moment his head hit a pillow… or any other surface that could work as a headrest for his tired mind.

Today was one of those days. He knew he slept through more than half of his free hour, and his English class he couldn't even remember. Japanese was a blur, and before he knew it school was over. He had slept through half of the day, and yet he felt like his meek pounds could go straight through the floor boards anytime now. Top it off with frequent "radio waves" visiting his head, and you knew Uzumaki Naruto was damn tired.

Sasuke had the same English class as Naruto. Obviously, he'd been there to see it all, which was why he was waiting for the blond at the school gates.

The Uchiha observed him suspiciously as he walked out of the building, obviously calculating to what degree he should be concerned. Naruto tried to pull on a grin when he neared his friend, but could only manage a small, exhausted smile as he came to stand by his best friend. He didn't say anything as Sasuke's dark eyes roamed over him to take in his appearance, seemingly examining every hair on his head to see just what was out of order, but when the raven finished, Naruto knew he couldn't take any of his pity at the moment.

To avoid it, he spoke first. "I talked to Kaede after history," he said, placing his bag by his feet to lean against the wall to the right of his friend. "I did like you told me to. Sort of, anyway... she was really happy today."

"Hn…"

_Oh—the grunt of doom… _Naruto commented to himself, visibly grinning at his own joke. However, he knew that when Sasuke used that part of his vocabulary, he didn't want to talk about the current subject and it would end up as a one-sided conversation. Luckily, the blond knew exactly how to get the Uchiha's tongue running. "Konohamaru asked her out. Can you believe it? The little guy is growing up to be a lady's man. Just like his mentor, naturally!"

Sasuke snorted at that, and Naruto knew the Uchiha wouldn't let the chance to insult him pass that easily. "You've mentioned that before, dobe, and I've been looking for said ladies ever since… but unless you pass Sai as a girl, I can't say I've seen them."

Naruto stiffened at the mentioning of the name. Creeps raked over his back as a picture of the person in question came to mind, and embarrassing images from a long forgotten incident filled his head. He glared viciously at Sasuke. "Hey, I thought we laid that case dead! It's not my fault I attract the perverts out there…"

Sasuke chuckled at that. "Of course it isn't."

A huff escaped the blond, and he quickly glanced away, pouting as he mumbled to himself. "…those shorts… way too big… not my fault they fell down…" Naruto then glanced back at Sasuke as something came to strike his mind. "It's not like you should be talking, though. You've got an army of chicks waiting for you, yet I haven't seen you with one of them, even. I haven't even heard anything, you know."

"Ah…" Sasuke agreed, closing his eyes for a moment. "They're just not what I'm looking for."

This perked Naruto's interest. Not because Sasuke just (sort of) admitted he wasn't as asexual as people suspected him to be, but because this was one of the few times Sasuke told him something new about himself. After the book, telling and listening was one of the reasons friends existed, but it seemed like a rare occasion between the two. Of course, Naruto shared everything with Sasuke, but the Uchiha seemed to like keeping his privacy in his head rather than on his tongue. Yet Naruto would continue to tell Sasuke everything, knowing that one day after some hundred more of these rare occasions he'd also know everything there was to know about Sasuke, as well.

"Well, what are you looking for, then?" Naruto questioned, leaning forward and hiding his smirking inner-self behind an innocent, asking smile.

Sasuke held his gaze for a while, staring deeply at him before answering. "The right person for me, I guess. I don't want a cheesy love story… just this one person I can spend and share my life with without feeling uncomfortable about it."

A long silence passed, azure orbs roaming through grey depths to find any form of irony or hints that said Sasuke's last words to be a joke. Naruto found nothing. Staring awed, and slightly puzzled at the Uchiha, the blond leaned back against the wall again – never breaking their gaze. "You know," he spoke slowly, "that's about the sappiest thing I've ever heard you say." Sasuke's soft gaze turned into a killing glare before he turned away. Naruto hastily continued speaking at that, his intention not being to make Sasuke pull back into his head again, when he finally had him on his tongue. "I guess I understand, though. I mean, sorta… Um, we're all looking for the right person, and I… I…"

Naruto swallowed dryly, leaving his gaze on an orange-shaded leaf that had just landed on the ground in front of him: a sign of fall. He sighed, watching as the leaf continued on its way, riding on a soft waft of wind that had nothing to tell him at that moment. Eyes tracing the fleeing form of the leaf, he finished his sentence.

"I need someone I won't feel uncomfortable with, as well, you know, having this thing in my luggage." He smiled slightly as the leaf left his line of sight. "I just haven't found her yet." Though Sasuke didn't reply, he was staring intensely at him once he turned back to him. Only Naruto could read the words "I understand" in that gaze.

They left the subject after that in favor for talking about the upcoming English test, what movies were coming out the next month, and every other thing teenagers normally would talk about – things that didn't involve talking to the Sunday breeze, or the upcoming storm the news were warning people about. They stayed until only a few people remained on the school grounds, when they both decided it was about time they headed home.

"Come home with me today."

Naruto blinked, tilting his head questioningly. "Huh?"

Sasuke sighed, repeating himself. "Come to my house today. You're exhausted and could use some sleep in a _real _bed, and I could help you out with your English afterwards. I'm sure mother would be overjoyed to cook for more people than me and Itachi, anyway…"

"Uh… I'm not sure…" Naruto spoke hesitantly.

"Not sure? It's not like you haven't been over before."

"I know, but I… well, you just insulted my bed!"

"If you can call some blankets on top of a mattress a bed, then yes: I did indirectly insult your bed."

"Aha! So you admit it! You're nothing but a no-good bed-insulter!"

"Quit changing the subject," Sasuke said sternly, taking control of the conversation again. "Look, you've had a hard day, and you know I always have some space for you at my house…"

Naruto tilted his head at that. "Space…? When I'm sleeping over, you're always taking the floor…"

"I do that willingly so that you can have a good night sleep, for once," the Uchiha argued with ease. "So, are you coming or not?"

Naruto mulled over his answer for a minute, but at last came up with the excuse of having to see his landlord about something. They quickly parted after that, and the blond kept his pace to a light jog until Sasuke was out of sight. He could practically feel that intense gaze at him making sure he didn't fall over and faint until he finally turned around the corner. Only then he slowed down a little to walk the rest of the way back to his flat. He slightly wondered whether he should've accepted the proposal of free dinner and a soft king-sized bed for a night; after all, it wasn't like he hadn't been at Sasuke's before. His mother was always nice to him and made the best of dishes worthy any five-star restaurant, and Itachi… well, he was just Itachi. The few times he had seen Sasuke's father home, he hadn't been so bad either.

No, the Uchiha family wasn't bad – far from it. Actually, they were the closest to a family Naruto had ever had. The reason why he said no was because he was being a burden – to Sasuke, most of all.

Sasuke was already doing so much for him, simply by being there, and by being the one he could share his ability with. He didn't want to be pushy just because of the pity he received. If it was up to Naruto, Sasuke wouldn't have known at all. Naruto never really told him about it either: Sasuke found it out on his own.

_That freaking genius bastard, _Naruto thought to himself as he finally spotted his apartment building down the block.

**-SasuNaru-**

_Brat,_

_I'll be out of town this week, so I won't be there to keep you hooligans in check. If anyone plays their damn orchestra to the point of blowing the building up, call me, and I'll leave someone deaf for the next months. Anything to stop your headaches… you have my number if anything happens. You don't have to pay the rent before I come back, but I expect no delays then!_

That's what the note from Tsunade said. Naruto had spotted it on the table the minute he entered his small one-room apartment. She was his landlord, as well as a good friend that worked more like an auntie. She did not know of his issue, but he felt like she didn't have to. After all, she did rent him the apartment for less than he paid for a pack of milk at the grocery store.

To tell the truth, the place was horribly small. He could do with something bigger, but he knew that was most likely his experience from Sasuke's mansion-like house speaking. The space was nothing more and nothing less than what he needed. Sure, a combined kitchen living-room and bedroom could get pretty messy, but it also had its convenient sides – like breakfast in bed, and a short walk to the refrigerator. And he had a TV... which he used – a lot. It was actually because of his TV that he kept his place clean. You could learn a lot about rotting apartments from Discovery Channel nowadays.

Though his everyday ritual of watching sitcoms was coming up, Naruto didn't feel like turning on the TV. He didn't feel like heating his ramen. He didn't feel like doing his homework. He didn't feel like doing anything at the moment. He was exhausted.

Naruto needed sleep. Perhaps if he slept, tomorrow he'd feel much better. Perhaps he'd wake up and find his ability gone. Perhaps he'd actually remember to close the windows before going to bed tomorrow night… but today, he'd forget. He'd forget, and he wouldn't care.

He needed some God damn sleep, damn it…

**-SasuNaru-**

"_..Oh… Ah… yeah, sensei! Keep going… ah…"_

"_Yes, that's it Izumi-chan… ah… yes, keep pushing back to me…"_

"_Yes, sensei… yes… ah…! Yes, sensei…!"_

"_Come on, come on… yes, you're doing great. Come on, keep squeezing it…"_

"_Oh, sensei…! I'm so close, please… please, ah!"_

"_Take it all, c'mon 'Zumi-chan…!"_

"_Ah! Oh, yes, Mizuki-sensei!"_

**-SasuNaru-**

"Damn it…" Naruto muttered to himself, rubbing his temple furiously. He knew he looked horrible, and though those who passed him by saw it too, they didn't say anything. Really, his expression could scare away anyone and any attempt to comment. Blond locks of hair were more of a mess than usual, his skin was visibly paler, and there was no mistaking the heavy bags under his eyes. The night had been terrible for one Uzumaki Naruto – believe it.

At least, he looked better that he had in the morning, when the discovery had first hit him. But no matter how you saw it, the discovery was far from a pleasant one…

All he knew now was that he needed to talk to Sasuke, which was why he stood by his locker, waiting for Sasuke to show up so that they could head to PE together. They didn't have the first class together, seeing how Sasuke was taking chemistry while Naruto kept a button on biology, but they did have the same math, English and PE class, which would give Naruto plenty of time to discuss his discovery with his friend.

Sasuke always used some time getting out of the chemistry class, though. Naruto suspected it had to do with the major part of the girl population that suddenly found chemistry to be one of their favorite subjects…

"Dobe, you look like hell."

Naruto turned to glare in the direction of the Uchiha as he finally arrived. "Says the devil himself," the blond commented flatly.

"Can't argue with that," Sasuke mumbled, unlocking his locker to change his books. "You look like you want to say something. Spit it out."

Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, bringing Sasuke's attention to him fully. As if on instinct, the raven immediately sensed something wrong with the sigh. Staring intensely at the blond, Sasuke spoke again.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"It's just…" Naruto started, not really sure how to present his answer. "I… Look, last night, I left the window open – by mistake – and I sorta heard… Well, you know my history teacher—"

He didn't get further with the explanation before a bunch of brown and green landed by him, pushing Sasuke partly out of the picture. Naruto immediately recognized Konohamaru with his trademark scarf, and was about to give a happy greeting, but stopped himself when he saw the worry and anxiety on his younger friend's face. "Naruto-nii…! Please, you've oughta help out!"

"Hey, slow down, Kono… what's up?" Naruto questioned, trying to calm the panicking boy.

What he got for an answer was very unnerving.

By the accusations of bringing dirt onto the name of Lyrical Academy's cheerleading squad, Yoshino Kaede was to stand trial before her teammates the next day. In other words, the pom-pom chicks were going through some stupid "high school tradition" in order to humiliate and throw Kaede out of the squad for no reason what-so-ever. Naruto knew something like this was likely to happen.

_But what can I do about that…?_

After assuring his friend that things would be alright and that he'd help out, asking that question was a little too late.

Grateful, though still a little anxious, Konohamaru went on his way to find Kaede, leaving Naruto to ponder on exactly what to do. Sasuke also noticed his uncertainty after his quick chat with the sophomore. He sent the blond a questioning look, raising his eyebrow as if to ask just what he had in mind.

To be truthful, his mind was empty at that department. There was really only one thing he could do.

Swallowing his pride, Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Take me to see Sakura."

A smirk... "Oh? Wasn't that, once again, my idea? I guess this is where I'm supposed to say 'What did I—'"

"Just shut up!"

"…at lunch, then?"

"Fine – that should give me enough time to find some armor before meeting the queen bee…"

"Armor won't help you, dobe. There are two game rules when approaching them: when they're calm, you speak. When they go for offence… you run."

"What about defense…?"

Another smirk… "Haruno Sakura doesn't _do _defense."

Naruto swallowed heavily, knowing exactly what Sasuke meant. One wrong step with Sakura, and it would be him in Kaede's place.

_**End Chapter**_

**A/N: There, chapter 2! To be honest, this chapter has been at 80% for a week now, but due to illness and such, I've been unable to finish it before now. I'm sorry for that. This story is officially a 5-chapter fic, and I've got chapter 3 and 4 all planned out. And chapter 3... Oh, I'm very happy with that chapter. ^^ Chapater four is probably going to be your fav of the two, but damn! I should be writing the chapters, not talking about them in an AN! Oh, well... Hopefully, this is a cake before October, but that's left to see...**

**Also, I want to thank you guys for the amazing response! Again, due to my flu and lack of energy, I was unable to reply to everything, but I've tried answering to as many questions as possible. Thanks a lot. And to everyone who read this chapter, thanks for reading! *****bows* (_ _)**

**Much Love,**

**-Ai (TKCat)**


	3. Gale

**The Winds Can Whisper**

**A Naruto Fanfiction by TKCat**

**Rating: M**

**Pairing: SasuNaru**

**Genre: Supernatural, Romance**

**Warnings: Shonen-Ai (BL), Yaoi (M/M), Sexual Content**

**Beta'ed by: [Un-Beta'ed]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**A/N: Finally, chapter 3! This is the longest chapter in this story (hopefully...) but it was a lot of fun for me to write. It didn't turn out exactly as I planned it, so I might end up making some changes later on. Nothing major though - just a few details if I feel like I want to add some. Also, I didn't expect the last chapter to get as much feedback as the first (38 reviews on the first + nearly 70 alerts and lots of favs O_o - while the second chapter got 12 reviews) as it was more of a chapter to introduce our problem... but I do believe this chapter has awakened some strong feelings. Please let me know if I'm right, ne? Another note at the end.**

**Now! Please do enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Gale**

There were three things in life Naruto never thought he would do. Three, albeit small, dreadful things he'd never even think of doing went as the Uzumaki's Three Holy Promises – a small, although important prayer he'd hold as a ritual every day. Not even the vast temptation of the goodness of ramen could lure him into the trap of forgetting them, or dishonor them. They were, after all, the small three things that could give the final whip lash needed to bring his life over the edge and into the deep, burning inner circles of the underworld, otherwise known as "Hell". Even if his life pretty much lived up to the standards, Naruto was still denying the description as words that could define it. One small mistake, being doing one of these small things, would however convince him that yes, he was definitely living in Hell.

The first one was simple and very understandable for every other human. "Never forget to buy instant ramen". According to Naruto, no normal person could ever find that strange, as it was one of the vital ingredients to create the life of the modern teenager – the others being sleep, TV, sweets and (although he was regretfully admitting it) the dread and slavery that took the shape and word "school".

The second one was a bit more complicated. In Naruto's world it read as follows: "Never rob a store, bank, or any other public place with facilities that affect the inhabitants of the county". If it didn't make sense, you should be happy to know that the logic shines through after the second part is added: "It will only result in karma striking back at you and every convenience store will at the end of it all no longer sell instant noodles with pork flavor." Suddenly it all became so much clearer to us.

In the very end we have the third thing in life Naruto never thought he would do, and this one was probably the most notable one. Sure, it wasn't as important as its precursors, as it didn't include the Holy Object of Instant Noodles, but nevertheless it was just as dangerous and truthfully terrible as them. It could bring the same consequences for his life, and was certainly not something to joke with… after all, out of the three this one was the one most likely to happen: a conclusion that was just proven by one Uzumaki Naruto.

To talk to Haruno Sakura, president of the student council, captain of the captains in any pom-pom chick league, as well as the most popular girl in school, was something Naruto would usually avoid at all cost; "usually", seeing how he was at the very moment standing fifty feet away from the she-devil in disguise, preparing to do just that.

The blond parted his dry lips in an audible huff, staring in despair at the crowd of girls around the central table of the cantina. They were all pretty and extremely well groomed for girls their age, but few knew of all the flaws hiding beneath the masks of make-up and foundation they wore. Naruto was one of those few, albeit unwillingly, and could point out exactly what girl you should stay away from at any cost. All of them had some dirt on their paper, which made the "senior witch" of the club even scarier to him…

Haruno Sakura was the point of attention, the perfect origin for the giggling group of girls. Her long, strangely pink hair topping off her growing teenage-frame was already giving the first impression of a girl that was one in a million. One look in her eyes said it all: the sweet, soft emerald color betrayed the moment they turned sharp and revealed a leader, an alpha female who would do anything to remain in her position.

Naruto knew something devastating about every girl around the table that could crush their identity, their name, for decades to come. They were stupid for letting the demoralizing rumors happen at all, and no matter how hard they had it locked up someone would always know. Sakura, however, was a smart girl. Naruto knew absolutely nothing about her. Public knowledge, like hair color, status and age, yes, but he knew nothing of Haruno Sakura's deepest secrets. He suspected the case was just like with Sasuke: she never spoke her secrets out loud.

That was why Sakura was scary as a cheerleader's bad hair day, and was included in his previous mentioned list. He didn't know what she was capable of.

"Are you shaking, dobe?" Sasuke's deep voice few inches to his left shook him out of it, and Naruto noticed that he had indeed started shaking. He stopped immediately, hiding his embarrassment with the matter at hand, but Sasuke had picked up on it. Pale lips lifted up into a slight, humored smirk at the blond's reactions. "Scared of talking to a girl?"

"_Queen bee_, remember. We agreed on that one," Naruto huffed, turning his face even further away to avoid seeing the raven's expression. He knew he was already doomed to be his best friend's daily entertainment, but that didn't mean he took pleasure in it at all times.

"So I'm guessing you've got nothing against walking over there right now?" Sasuke continued. Naruto pressed his lips out into a pout at the sickly sweet, teasing tenor coating that question.

"Why am I doing this at all?" Naruto questioned loudly to himself and his companion, before continuing in a hushed mumble. "It strides with the Three Holy Ones, after all… isn't a smart idea breaking promises. 'Sides, Sakura it scary…"

Naruto caught Sasuke in his line of sight, having leaned closer to catch the exact words of the blond. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow in seldom puzzlement. "Three Holy—what…? The only audible thing you just said was 'Sakura is scary', usuratonkachi."

Naruto huffed once again. "Let's just… do it already."

"Your wish is my command, princess," Sasuke teased, amused by Naruto's angry blush. Nevertheless, he started on his way to the table and towards Sakura and her "pom-pom waving she-demons" as Naruto so kindly dubbed them – very fittingly as well, according to the blond.

The giggles and animated chatter that seemed to erupt in endless flows of lava in the form of speech slowly died down as Sasuke was noticed nearing their table. Immediately, the girls started whispering, and like domino bricks falling they turned their heads towards the approaching males. Excitement and wonder was shining in their eyes. Sasuke brushed them off easily, ignoring every single silent plea for a second's eye-contact, but for Naruto it was a bit harder. The amount of eyes concentrated on him made him feel uncomfortable on levels he hadn't experienced before, which was a feat considering his current life-situation. He was put in an unbearably hot heater, and he could already feel his flesh scorching and smoldering off under the curious stares of the school's high-class crowd. He was almost grateful when the rosette finally looked up at them – or rather: at Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun…!" Sakura greeted, her incredibly soft voice, laced with excitement and surprise, carrying the sound across the last ten feet that separated them. "It's been a while! You should've come over earlier."

"Sakura," Sasuke greeted in return, nodding his head slightly. The crowd of girls immediately started gushed whispering and squeals between each other. Even Naruto couldn't help but stare perplexed at his friend. Sasuke used no suffix when addressing Sakura: that could either mean that he was insulting her to a level of bloodshed, or they were very, _very_ close. How could that be…?

Sakura smiled sweetly at the Uchiha, and then her deep, emerald eyes crossed over to his companion. Upon seeing Naruto standing there, she immediately gaped and gave the Uchiha a mystified, almost asking glance, as if she had never seen the boy he had brought with him ever before – or at least not with Sasuke. Standing as close as he did, Naruto could see Sasuke turn his head slightly down to his left, and Sakura seemed to catch something in the gesture that Naruto didn't. Before he could speculate into it, however, Sakura's bright smile was on him. The pure expression almost made him lift the corners of his lips to send back the same gesture, until he remembered who he was dealing with. Instead he broke their contact, placing his gaze neutrally on a spot on the cafeteria floor.

Sasuke seemed to sense his discomfort and immediately caught Sakura's attention with another short line. "We've got something to discuss."

Again, Sakura appeared to take a hint. She nodded curtly and directed her attention on her crowd. "Alright, give us some space here!" she yelled out firmly, standing up and clapping her hands together a couple of times. "I've got some business with Sasuke-kun and his friend, please step away and give us some privacy."

Some of the girls gave disappointed moans, but in less than ten seconds the table was completely free of the people previously sitting there, not counting Sakura. The rosette smiled at them again, motioning for them both to take a seat across from her. Sasuke sat down a little to the left to avoid sitting right in front of the school president, giving Naruto that…"honor". The blond uncomfortably placed himself in his given seat, faintly noticing the warmth radiating from it as someone had been sitting there just a few seconds earlier. He placed his hands in his lap, glancing up only so slightly to find Sakura eyeing him curiously, before looking at his hands. He didn't feel safe under that stare.

All seated, Sakura opened up for the conversation. "So, what can I do for you?"

Naruto was almost amazed that the girl didn't put her entire attention on Sasuke, but actually kept an eye on him as if she didn't want to leave him out… or lose him out of sight. After all, he was just about fresh meat placed out for the hawk to have a grab at. Sasuke was however the freshest meat, and also the one to answer the rosette. It was almost unnerving how vocal he was becoming around that girl. "It's about one of your chickens," he stated, then looked expectantly at the blond.

It took Naruto a second to understand Sasuke wanted him to take over; that was definitely not the scenario he has been looking forward to, but it just had to be unavoidable. He swallowed unnoticeably as he locked eyes with the queen once again, trying to match the unyielding gaze of Sakura's emerald orbs. "I… I mean, you…"

He stumbled over his words, failing at making a coherent sentence. He expected the cheerleader slash council president to be edgy and brash, of the kind that would urge him to say something worth her time, but was once again amazed over the rosette who sat unmoving, waiting patiently for him to say something she could answer to. But was that a part of her strategy? Was she planning something already? Sasuke had made one thing very clear: Sakura never remained silent unless for a good reason. Was she preparing an attack…? _I've got to stop thinking that way! _he scolded himself, still forcing his eyes not to break contact with the queen bee. _She's just a girl. She's human. Sure, she's a much higher ranged human, but a human nonetheless. What am I afraid of?_

_The fact that she can ruin what's rest of your life with a snap of her fingers, _a small voice in the back of his head chimed in.

_Oh… that._

But there was no turning back now. Swallowing his nervousness, he began to speak. "Yoshino Kaede," he began, watching how Sakura's eyes lit up in recognition. "She's… I mean… oh man. What I mean to say is… she hasn't done anything wrong, alright!" he finally cried out, surprising Sasuke and Sakura, as well as the people around them. Sakura gave a heavy stare at their peers which sent them minding their own business.

"Yes, and what about it?" she questioned lightly, voice so syrupy that Naruto knew he wouldn't be eating sweets in a while.

"Uh… so she shouldn't be put up for trial, I guess…" he spoke dumbfounded, but quickly gathered himself. After all, some simple excuse of that kind wouldn't convince Sakura. Taking a breath, he hurriedly continued, his voice much clearer and sterner than before. "Look, Kaede-chan is a good friend of mine, and an even better friend of one of my better friends… actually, she has been sharing with me that she has been waiting for that friend to ask her out, and now he finally has! But now she also has these rumors hanging around her, even though they're all false. And it's not like none of the other pom-pom chi… I mean, cheerleaders don't have dirt on their hands. It's like someone is trying to hang her out! Besides, isn't it wrong to have a person judged for something they didn't do, just because someone else doesn't like that person very much…? So… please, don't hold a trial on her. She doesn't deserve it."

When Naruto ended his speech, which he had managed his way through without making a complete fool of himself, he immediately felt the nervousness creeping back into him. Sakura was still looking at him, a soft unreadable expression on her face. He didn't know if that was a good sign or not. Glancing over at Sasuke erased some of that anxiety; the Uchiha nodded conformingly to him, approving of his attempt. Naruto smiled back, a little more relieved now that he had Sasuke's support, but the judgment had yet to fall. He trained his eyes at Sakura now, his heart speeding up, waiting in painful silence for her to say something… anything.

"Mhm…" the cheerleader suddenly murmured to herself, and then once again picked up her cheerful smile. Naruto expected the worse. On that footing, her answer came as a surprise. "Sure."

"…just like that?" Naruto questioned perplexed, blinking wide-eyed at her. It was to him unbelievable that something so complicated should be over in such short amount of time, which was why he kept his guard up if any "if"-s or "but"-s were to pop out of her cherry-pink mouth.

"Why, of course." Sakura gave a light giggle over his expression.

"But…. How? Why… that easily…?"

"I have to take all information into account, and even I know to some extent that Kaede-san has far from violated any internal rules of the squad," Sakura explained, combing some of her luxurious hair behind her ear. "I'll have you know I take my job as both school president and squad leader for La High very seriously, and my first priority will always be the wellbeing of the student body. You must have in mind that I can't take all the decisions in the squad by myself – the issue with Kaede-san is also between the girls – but I'll definitely do my best not to have anything bad happen and resolve this peacefully... or as peacefully as it gets when we're talking pom-pom chicks."

She finished her statement with a delightful laughter, also leaving Naruto awed that she picked up on his nick-name for the cheerleaders and made a joke with it, even if it meant including herself under the stereotype. He couldn't help a confounded smile, though. He had actually survived talking the matter through with Sakura. Best of all, she proved not to be so bad after all.

All of a sudden, she commented on his skin tone, complimenting the evenness and expressing her envy of it. Bewildered, yet flattered, he stuttered his way to a compliment regarding her hair (just to make them even), earning him a grateful smile. He gave a wry smile back. In the matter of seconds they were having a conversation of varying subjects, and only Sakura's mentions to Sasuke and the Uchiha's occasional grunts reminded Naruto that he was still there.

"…Hm… I believe you should try wearing a little more navy, or any shade of blue really," Sakura hummed softly, the statement being one of many she had made on Naruto's style of clothing and other features. "It would bring out your face – especially your hair and eyes… like I said, they complement you just right," she praised; then she shot a teasing look at the quiet raven. "Don't you agree, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Naruto snorted, remarking, "Sasuke does that all the time… he won't answer you once you've touched a spot, or once you've annoyed him down to your level and outwitted him there. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't think he is God. He thinks he is better…" Sakura immediately agreed with a spluttering laughter, sending a jokey complaint to Sasuke as well. Once again Naruto couldn't help but be awed over the girl. She could take a joke, or make one of her own, she was serious about her ambitions (already having shared that she wanted to become a surgeon or doctor when she finished school), she was immensely beautiful (he had to admit) and caring towards even him, the outcast and troublemaker of the school. Maybe the most important point was that she was a mature girl who knew how to keep her secrets. Haruno Sakura really was perfect.

It was a shame that the bell came round, signalizing the end of lunch. He stood up along with Sasuke, scratching the back of his head in an apologizing manner directed at Sakura. "I guess we kept you for the rest of lunch… sorry, Sakura-san."

"Oh, please, don't bother apologizing. I had fun. And don't go on being so formal, either," she gushed, smile never fading.

Naruto smiled back. "So… Sakura-chan, then," he suggested, and she approved. Before he could say anything else, Sasuke's pale hand grabbed his shoulder, indirectly telling him it was time to go. He nodded to his best friend, paying his last goodbye to Sakura. Just before they left though, Sakura spoke to him again.

"Oh, and Naruto," she started effectively catching his attention. She had him hanging on to every word. Winking, she finished her sentence. "That about the student body's wellbeing… it goes for you as well. Meeting new faces are always exciting, so don't hesitate in coming over just to chat, ne?"

A light blush found its way to tanned cheeks. Naruto was frozen solid to the spot for a moment, and only Sasuke's growl and pulling him away thawed him out.

**-SasuNaru-**

"What about today, then?"

"Huh? What today…?"

"Come home with me today," Sasuke enlightened his request.

Naruto shrugged. "…I'm sorry. I've got to watch the place with Tsunade gone."

"…Hn."

"What about some other day? I promise I'll make it up to you, okay?"

"…"

"…what…? I said I'm sorry, didn't I?"

"…I'm keeping you on those words, dobe."

A snort followed. "Yeah, whatever… I'll race you to English class!"

"Idiot, wait up…!"

"Not my fault you're slow— hey, _you _wait up, bastard!"

"It's not my fault _you_ are slow."

**-SasuNaru-**

The days flew by, rather quickly in Naruto's opinion – and with every passing one his affection for a certain rosette grew as well. That partly was on the fact that only the day after they had talked to Sakura she had managed to push the date of Kaede's "execution" a whole week forward in time. For a small amount of time he had his doubts Sakura was sincere about her words, but now he had been proven wrong about the girl, once again. When they crossed paths in the hallway, they would greet each other and exchange words occasionally. Their relationship was already on the level of friendship, the blond figured. He found himself sharing that discovery with Sasuke – again and again – no longer conscious of the fact that there had been hints of a close relationship between his best friend and the cheerleader, even though he had to take Sasuke's darkening glares every time he mentioned Sakura into account.

Was there really something between them,he often wondered. Naruto also felt like there was something else he was forgetting every time he glanced at Sasuke, but he couldn't seem to remember what. The nagging feeling kept up in the back of his mind though, and he knew it would most likely not disappear before he remembered what… but he also came to the conclusion that he'd think of it soon enough. Better not let it bother him.

Tsunade came home Monday evening, bringing Naruto a small gift from her traveling destination. However, he had to gamble her for it, making it more of a prize than a gift. Thanks to his landlord's terrible luck the awesome crystal necklace was his from that evening and on. He proudly wore it at school the day after, and was positively surprised when his new flame of affection was the first one to comment on how well it suited him when they coincidentally met before classes started.

That small meeting with Sakura gave him a kick-start for the day to come, and he immediately knew that even the annoyance of his ability wouldn't be enough to bring him down unless he heard something extremely devastating. Somehow he hadn't been all that bothered by it over the last few days. A few childish love-life secrets here and there, some useless noises… it was already Tuesday and he hadn't disturbed class one single time. Perhaps the curse was finally giving him peace. The theory only made his day even better.

Enveloped in this newfound glee, it wasn't really a wonder that Naruto was the one to come up with a proposal of watching a movie at Sasuke's place. The offer was immediately taken. Naruto knew that on account of Sasuke being his best friend (and him being Sasuke's most likely only friend) he would always say yes to spend time with him. Naruto's true intention behind the suggestion was however to, for once, be there with Sasuke as that only friend and not a burden now that he finally was a little relieved of his bother. Sure, he knew Sasuke had told him multiple times that he'd never be a burden to the Uchiha – but in the end it all depended on his own selfishness, which was unsurprisingly close to nonexistent. Or so he liked to believe, anyway.

After their last class, they were immediately off to Sasuke's house.

Having visited the place several times before, Naruto no longer found himself impressed by the sheer size of the Uchiha household. To any other passerby however, the thought of a small family of four living there was simply absurd. It wasn't a mansion, but it was unquestionably a far bigger house than what was considered "normal" in any case. It was to be expected, though: both of Sasuke's parents were well known and in the industrial and service branch of the world's professions. His mother, Mikoto, owned a chain of well-known restaurants throughout the world and had under occasions hosted or been invited to judge culinary reality shows. Fugaku, Sasuke's father, worked as one of the leaders of an aircraft and travel agency that had been in the family for decades.

As a result, neither of them was home very often, but when they were Naruto had always been taken in with open arms. Mikoto always stuffed him with her delicious cooking and pastry-skills and shared exciting new recipes with him, and Fugaku was more than overjoyed that his younger soon was creating connections with possible clients or future business partners… not that Naruto had any intention of joining in at the industrial world at the moment.

Today they were greeted by the one person that actually stayed in town at most of the time. Itachi, Sasuke's older brother and student at the local university, met them at the door – seemingly in a hurry to get out when he spotted them.

"Ah, my dear baby brother and his little friend… Hello, Naruto-kun. It's been a while," Itachi greeted, smiling warmly at the two.

"Hiya, Itachi-san," Naruto greeted back, about to exchange the normal "how are you" and "how's college going" when Sasuke beat him to the word.

"Were you on your way out?" Sasuke asked, lowering his eyelids into a suspicious half-glare.

Itachi nodded, unfazed. "I've got some business to take care of… I didn't know Naruto-kun was coming over today. I do hope there's enough of that sausage form for both of you. If not, you'd better keep your guest fed, Sasuke."

"Won't be a problem," Sasuke answered while Naruto inwardly cursed for indirectly being called skinny by Sasuke's older brother – not that it wasn't usual to receive critique of some sort when speaking with Itachi. If Sasuke thought he was above God, you could say that Itachi _knew _he was above Sasuke.

Itachi bid his goodbye and dressed himself in a dark wool coat as the two high school students kicked off their worn-out shoes. Just before he went out the door, the older Uchiha looked over at them. "I trust that there won't be any disagreements. Be good, children. And don't burn the house down while I'm gone, okay?"

Naruto immediately knew it was a joke and waved smilingly after the retreating form of Itachi, but on Sasuke's part it seemed like the comment had hit a sore spot. The raven glared darkly after his brother, trying to make him catch fire if humanly possible (which Naruto didn't doubt with his strange ability). Naruto could only guess it was a grudge he held towards Itachi. Sasuke didn't like being treated as a child, and especially not by his older brother.

Not long after the small chat, having eaten their dinner consisting of a mix of sausage, macaroni and cheese baked in a form along with fresh salad, Naruto was deciding on a movie he wanted to watch while Sasuke was in the kitchen preparing some snack. Humming, Naruto leafed his way through the Uchiha family's many Blue-Ray discs and DVDs, trying to find a movie to his liking. He wasn't really sure what he was in the mood for; a science fiction or classic action movie, or a horror-filled gory one. Blue eyes wandered over the title of a couple of chick-flicks, instantly throwing them into the "not in a lifetime" pile. In the end, he stood with several discs in his hand and a hundred spread on the floor around him.

"I hope you're putting them back in correct order after this, dobe," Sasuke sighed as he walked into the room, placing a bowl of popcorn on the table along with two jugs filled three fourths with soda. Screw week-banishments of that sugary thirst-quencher: popcorn deserved to be eaten with true carbonated soft drinks.

Naruto laughed sheepishly, stacking a couple of Blue-Ray discs randomly into the shelves. Sasuke rolled his eyes but said nothing and seated himself in the loveseat placed conveniently in front of the TV. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and questioned his friend about what movie he wanted to watch. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the suggestions he was presented with.

"Silent Hill, again, dobe…?"

"Of course, teme," Naruto snorted, "You've just got to have it among the candidates, you know."

"Yeah, if you have absolutely no taste in movies, then yes."

"Hey, you've got to love that thing with the big-ass knife. I mean, duh! He has a big-ass knife!"

"…uh, yeah… big-ass knife… go with Lethal Weapon."

"What...! We watched that the last time we did this! And you're talking about taste in movies, when you hold absolutely no variety yourself."

"Says the dobe who just suggested we watch Silent Hill for the ninety-eight time this fall…" Naruto growled in annoyance, biting back his half-assed comeback. Now Sasuke was doing that word-thing of his again – one of the traits that labeled him a complete bastard in many minds. "Whatever," Sasuke continued. "Just pick a Terminator one. I don't care which."

Naruto grinned widely at that. "Now we're talking!"

Minutes later, the disc was in the player and Naruto jumped over to the couch, all but hopping into his reserved space between his best friend's legs. Sasuke allowed it, using the time before the movie started to make them both comfortable. As the movie finally got into the first scene Naruto was officially living in another world, his mind entirely on the storyline of the film they had picked. At times, he'd move in sympathy for the characters, or simply laugh his ass off if one of the "bad-guys" were beaten down dramatically. The movie went on and the hours went by, and they'd occasionally shift to stop an itch or make themselves more comfy. Towards the end their position could actually be questioned by people doubting their friendship to be just that.

Naruto sighed contently as the last of the action scenes came around, leaning his head back against Sasuke's chest. Looking up, he stared up into the raven's pale face and grinned pleased. "Now that's what I call a good movie!" he exclaimed, stretching his stiff muscles by aching his back a little before relaxing his whole body in his newfound position. Sasuke did the same, shifting wake his sleeping limbs before falling to rest with the blond laying securely on top of him. Naruto absentmindedly allowed a pale hand to comb through his hair as he lived out the last ten minutes of the adventure.

As the credits slowly rolled by, Naruto gave a strained yawn, feeling the exhaustion from imaginarily fighting for his life against a deadly robot out to kill him dawn over him like rain on a sunny day. He closed his eyes for a second, moaning as he felt the fingers massaging his scalp pull away.

"It's getting late already," Sasuke suddenly announced, his voice coming out as deep vibrations from a warm chest to the blond leaning against it. Naruto sleepily hummed his agreement. "Stay here tonight. I'll get a mattress ready."

"Mhm… I feel like a ton of bricks. I wouldn't last out the front door, anyway..."

When the blond felt a little more energized few minutes later, they both untangled and got up slowly. Naruto, as if never tired at all, commented on all the scenes he found to his liking (and those he didn't) while Sasuke collected the disc from the DVD/Blue-Ray player. After a brief argument they decided that the guest slept in the bed. _More like Sasuke decided_, Naruto murmured to himself. He was slightly beginning to suspect Sasuke for having a phobia for his own bed.

**-SasuNaru-**

Naruto sighed contently and fell down into the navy cushions decorating Sasuke's bed, not caring that his damp hair would result in making them a little soggy. Cobalt orbs hid behind golden lashes, looking dazzled up at the ceiling. The only sound in the room was the sizzling of a shower coming from the bathroom connected to it. Calming wafts of vanilla hit his senses, and only then he realized Sasuke had lit a scented candle before hitting the showers himself. Naruto smiled at that; not only had the bastard put aside a set of clothes for him to sleep in, but he had also taken the bother to light a candle with the blond's favorite essence. For a moment he stared dreamily at the dancing flame over at the bedside table.

He suddenly felt very small lying in such a big bed, surrounded by classy headrests and comforters. Actually, he felt very small just being alone in Sasuke's room. The place was, after all, the size of Naruto's kitchen and living-room put together. When he thought about it, everything Sasuke had was as if meant for two or more people to share and he wasn't the type to share his things that easily – not even if he wanted to. Looking at it from that angle, it wasn't that unbelievable that "bed-phobia" was the actual case here…

Rolling over to his stomach, Naruto slowly crawled over to the bedside table and the burning candle. He let his left palm support his chin while he dreamily let his fingers toy around with the melted stearin.

He let his mind wander, and he thought about a lot of things. Some of them included Sakura, Konohamaru and Kaede, school, and the subsiding activity his ability was showing, but most of them involved his mysterious best friend. The more he thought, the more he realized he didn't really know much about Sasuke's past or his relationship with his family members. One issue that was bothering him greatly was Itachi. Itachi had always been an okay guy when Naruto was around – actually, at times it seemed like the older Uchiha was trying to make things good when he was visiting, just to keep him coming back – but Sasuke's behavior told a different tale about Uchiha Itachi. Something had happened between them to make Sasuke so hostile of his own brother, as if Itachi knew something Sasuke didn't want him to know. Maybe that thing was the reason why Sasuke was always acting so mature, hating it when Itachi insisted on the opposite.

Vaguely, Naruto wondered if the burnt patch by the bed had something to do with it. The ugly black spot with brown edges stood out on the otherwise crème-colored wall. Studying it closer, it seemed to follow a line going even behind the bed. Perhaps Sasuke had in a moment of complete un-characteristic clumsily daze bumped into a candle, resulting in almost burning down his room, and then the house. He shook his head at the idea. Could it really be that Sasuke's grudge for Itachi was over such a small thing?

_I wouldn't be surprised_, Naruto commented to himself, using the nail of his index finger to scratch a curvy letter into the soft stearin. When finishing, he pulled back to admire the sloppy "S" he had ended up with. He realized it could stand for many things – Sakura, to mention one – but his mind was firm on that exact "S" being for the most important person in his life right now: his best friend, Sasuke. And no matter what happened, Sasuke would continue being his best friend.

Grinning contently at his conclusion, Naruto was about to roll over again when a small gale of wind washed through the room. The first thing he noticed was the candle being put out before the immense sensation of cold took over his senses, bringing back the dreaded buzzing that tormented his mind. He almost screamed as the almost forgotten sensation washed through him, painfully pushing its way into his head. A replay of what he had heard several nights before was rammed uncomfortably into his memories. _No, no, no, no… not now, no!_

For the moments it lasted, Naruto felt like he was packed into a freezer, all movement prevented by a ton of ice-cubes surrounding him. The mental cold was just about more unbearable than the buzzing itself. The radio waves quickly died down, and the first thing Naruto did when he found the will to move again was to locate the source of the surprise attack – an open window that let in the first wafts of a coming storm – and eliminated it (closed it).

Pleased that he had been able to act so fast, even though he still remained a bit shaky from the sudden attack, he went back to the table where the candle remained unlit. That was what he was going to speak to Sasuke about before his mind got all hung up in the Kaede-thing. He had forgotten all about it when he had been fooled into believing his ability was disappearing, only to have it act up again.

"But why now, all of a sudden…" Naruto murmured softly, jumping up as new chills ran up his back. He felt really cold. Huffing and rubbing his arms to regain his warmth, he tried locating a box of matches or a lighter to relight the scented candle. The search ended in nothing, and annoyance joined in with the feeling of being frozen. He'd have to wait for Sasuke to get them for him.

_And what the heck is taking him so long, anyway? Can't be that hard to take a shower…_

Deciding he didn't have the patience to wait, Naruto skipped over to the bathroom door and rammed his fist into the wood. "Hey bastard, where do you keep your matches? I can't find them anywhere!"

There was some shuffling on the other side of the door, then a dump as if something had fallen to the floor. Naruto raised an eyebrow, about to ask if everything was okay in there when Sasuke answered him. "I just ran out when lighting that candle. Try the top drawer by the sink in the kitchen."

While huffing in irritation of having to go down just to fetch some matches, Naruto did as told. After all, the cold was slowly reaching the levels of unbearable.

When Naruto came upstairs again he was surprised to find Sasuke out of the shower and dressed, and the candle lit as if it had never been out in the first place. Raising an inquisitive eyebrow at the Uchiha, Sasuke answered his silent question. "It seems like I had one left, so I decided just to use it. Thanks for bringing me another box."

The blond rolled his eyes, exhaling in profound annoyance. "Why, you're so fucking welcome Sasuke-sama. Want me to get my uniform and headdress and make you some tea while I'm at it?"

"No thanks to the tea, but hot chocolate with milk seem appropriate for the evening… and remember the uniform."

"…Jerk."

Shortly the two boys were lying underneath the covers of their respective beds – or mattress, in Sasuke's case. All electric lights were out, leaving the job of illuminating the room to the soft flame of the vanilla candle. Naruto found it sort of calming to simply relax inside the room with Sasuke by his side and the window securely closed, keeping all sort of annoyance outside the room. They talked a little about insignificant things; they were still discussing some parts of the movie they had watched when Naruto decided to talk about one thing that had annoyed him greatly for some time now. It was time to confront Sasuke about it.

"I was wondering," Naruto started, looking up at the darkened ceiling just to keep his gaze somewhere. Sasuke gave a small hum to prove he was listening. Naruto sighed. "Do you… I don't know… like Sakura, maybe?"

Sasuke kept silent for a few seconds, and Naruto was about to conclude he had hit head on when the Uchiha finally answered. "No," Sasuke said calmly, leaving no room for questioning. He was speaking the truth. "Why do you ask?"

"…I'm not sure, really. It's just that you've been acting so strangely every time I bring her up," Naruto explained, his suspiciousness still lingering. "But if it's because you dislike her, you've got to remember you were the one to help me talk to her – 'to use my ability for the greater good', or whatever… Actually, I felt loads better after talking to her to help Kaede out."

"Everything's going to be okay then."

Naruto swallowed a bit at that statement, knowing that Sasuke was referring to his ability getting more controllable. But the episode he had while Sasuke was in the shower clearly showed otherwise. Now was as good of a time as ever to bring it up. "No," he practically breathed out, trying to look everywhere but down at Sasuke's illuminated face. "It's getting worse."

And so he explained what happened the night before they had spoken with Sakura. He explained the details, his mistake in keeping the window open, and that he knew it was a student/teacher relationship. After naming the participants, he also told of the repeat he had just several minutes ago. Through it all, Sasuke remained silent, but Naruto knew he was listening carefully and thinking it all through. When it was all out on the table Naruto felt much, much better than he had before.

"Well," he spoke lightheartedly, though with deep sarcasm, "perhaps I should be a police investigator now. Apparently, not a thing can slip past my radar."

It was intended as a joke, but by the tone of Sasuke's voice the Uchiha took it very seriously. "No. Such things are too private for other people to be involved," he said, and though Naruto couldn't see it he knew Sasuke was scowling into the half-darkness. "This thing… we've got to make it stop."

Naruto blinked at the suggestion, feeling like Sasuke had just snatched the words out of his mind. Exhaling, he responded to that. "Welcome aboard… I'm sure we'd be much further on the way if you'd have listened to me in the first place so that _we could've done this in the first place_. And what's up with the sudden change of mind anyway?"

"I'm just watching out for you. After all, who knows? It wouldn't surprise me if you were getting off on it."

Naruto spluttered at that, glad his embarrassment wasn't visible in the dim light. "W-Well… that's more than we can say for you, bastard! I mean, what _do_ asexual bastards jerk off to anyway…?"

The comment went unanswered, and the conversation was put at rest. They decided to talk more about it the coming morning, and exchanged their "good nights" before remaining quiet. Naruto leaned over to the table and blew the light out before sliding back under the covers, falling into a restless sleep. He still felt so cold…

**-SasuNaru-**

Naruto didn't know what time it was, and his internal clock was just as perplexed as he was when he woke up to complete darkness. Truth to be told, he didn't really know if he was awake either. But what he did know was that he no longer felt cold. Actually, the case was quite the opposite.

Warmth – hot, boiling, nearly scorching warmth – surrounded his senses. It felt good.

Breathing out, he leaned against the source of the warmth, yearning the close contact that chased away the lingering cold of his mind. He was alright again.

He was warm.

It felt safe.

With those lasting thoughts, Naruto drifted back to sleep.

**-SasuNaru-**

Another day came and went, and things were finally starting to look up. He had gotten to talk things over with Sasuke, and they decided to start by figuring out just what triggered his ability and why. Sure, they weren't rocket scientists and dealing with something out of this world certainly wasn't something normal teenage-boys would do, but fuck that. They had logic (Sasuke) on their side, and Naruto was already famous for having the will to keep going for long periods of time.

Also, Kaede had been freed from her accusations.

Naruto had been mildly surprised it had taken Sakura less than a week to fix the mess. But no less was really to be expected by the rosette. She knew what she was doing, and she did her things very well.

And thus, the day had gone by joking with Sasuke about what he had recently heard from the teacher's longue. Apparently, their math teacher Iruka had found himself a new flame, and the comments and snippets of certain acts he picked up all pointed to it being a dirty one…with a certain dirty teacher they both knew very well.

"…when he first said 'dolphin', I thought he was seriously talking about some plushy in his bed!"

"…damn. The disturbing images…"

"Wait 'til you hear the excuse he told Gai-sensei!"

"Something tells me I don't want to…"

"Too late, teme – here goes… you see—"

**-SasuNaru-**

That night, the luck of the day was cut short.

Naruto had gotten home as usual in time to take a round or two of gambling with Tsunade and a friend of hers that was visiting. In a short amount of time, he found himself with enough allowance for the jacket he had his sight on, as well as a new strange friendship with a famous porn writer that just happened to be the author of the books Naruto had caught one of his teachers with. Now, _that _he knew could come in handy one day. He had also gotten his apartment cleaned and carried his garbage out into the building's containers. In the end he had actually found a lot of things he couldn't even remember having.

Some homework and rounds of cloth washing later, he decided that it was time for a well-deserved supper. That was when he heard it.

He had barely gotten around to boiling the water when the cold of the buzzing invaded his mind again, even though he was certain he had kept the windows closed. But there was no helping it, and soon he found himself clutching his head as sounds once again pushed their way in there – but then he stopped resisting. Naruto completely halted all movement and simply listened as it all played through his head. He listened, because this time, although wavy and unclear, the sounds were awfully familiar.

'…_uh…yeah…so tight… so good…'_

'…_keep going… keep—ah…ah, yes, yes, yes…'_

'_Ngh—ah…you're… so fucking…zing…'_

Though broken up, filled with incoherent buzzing and other disturbances, Naruto knew the sound of a man getting his release when he heard it. But what bothered him and made him heat up with utter embarrassment, was the familiarity. Those grunts, those noises… there were really no mistaking it.

It was Sasuke.

Just as he was about to digest the fact, another wave of buzzing hit him. It was short, including a bit of what he had just awkwardly heard, but there was something else that made his blood run cold. He heard giggling. He heard the same giggling he had heard one week ago at the rooftop greenhouse along with his best friend's pleasured groans. And he recognized it, having heard it many times now, having come to enjoy it, breathe it, love it… and now he was betrayed by it.

The pack of ramen in his hand hit the floor with an inaudible flop. Naruto was too occupied with the name that found its way into his mind as he replayed the giggle again and again.

…it was Sakura.

It was Sasuke with Sakura.

_**End Chapter**_

**A/N: And there it goes. :] I'm sure a few of you expected the truth to come out, but I'm starting this with a huge misunderstanding... then the truth comes as an even shock (I hope). I'm leaving a lot of hints for Naru to pick up on, but it just doesn't seem to work on him... why can't he just see it so I won't have to give him a heart attack the next chapter? _ (Just joking with the heart attack, though.) While talking chapters, I know I said this would be a five chapter story, but now that I have the story lined I ended up with 6 chapters. Well, the 6th chapter is more of a mix between a chapter and an epio. but a chapter nontheless. I got this wise comment on how I shouldn't rush things in their relationship by making this only 5/6 chapters. It got me thinking, and I now believe I have the perfect ending for this fic. Please look forward to it, and thank you to the person who remarked on at! ****You know who you are! ;)**

**So, what did you think? Please do share in form of a comment or an alert or a favorite... or anything at all, really. I'm wide open for suggestions as well. ALSO: TIME FOR A CONTEST! Given that the names of the chapters until now are "Breeze", "Gust" and "Gale", what do you believe the next chapters will be named? Keep in mind that chapter 6 is a mix between chapter and epio., and is therefore given a "final" name to slow things down at the end. I'd love to hear your suggestions!**

**I'm actually on my "Fall Vacation" right now (one week with no school. Yay!) and had in mind that I would be writing just about every day, but plans doesn't always clash... This weekend I was a babysitter, as well as a "voluntary" worker for my sister's handball-team while so called sister is enjoying **_**her**_** vacation in **_**Greece**_**. How unfair isn't that? And now I've got a house to clean because I have this lady who's going to interview me for my exchange-year. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, next year you'll find me in the U S and A! But enough about me. I'm wasting your time. ;)**

**Right now I'm working on two One-Shots in addition to this. One is a gift for a friend of mine (who will be mentioned there ;D) and the other is a tribute for a very special date. I hope I manage to finish them in time!**

**Thank you all for reading! It really means much to me! ****(_ _) *bows***

**-Ai (TKCat)**


	4. Storm

**The Winds Can Whisper**

**A Naruto Fanfiction by TKCat**

**Rating: M**

**Pairing: SasuNaru**

**Genre: Supernatural, Romance**

**Warnings: Shonen-Ai (BL), Yaoi (M/M), Sexual Content**

**Beta'ed by: [Un-Beta'ed]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**A/N: I'm sorry. There is no excuse, really. The A/N is on the bottom.**

**Chapter 4: Storm**

_I can't believe it_, Naruto repeated to himself once again. _I fucking can't believe it_…

For Uzumaki Naruto, that was truly a first. Some solely knew him for his infamous tendency to believe in just about everything, ranging from Santa's house having moved from the North Pole to Miami because of the cold, to UFOs being spotted in broad daylight. The only exceptions to that being some medical statements and things he had first handed witnessed been proved wrong. Really though; if one could talk to thin air, it wouldn't surprise him if the Santa wanted a tan, or if the aliens wanted a dayshift instead of a nightshift.

On that foundation, Sasuke and Sakura together shouldn't surprise him either. And really, such a relationship would explain the strangeness of Sasuke calling her solely by first name. It would also explain Sakura's familiarity with Sasuke. None of it seemed off once you but in the possibility of a relationship. Nothing was surprising anymore. Naruto wasn't surprised though. A little shocked, perhaps, but more than anything… he felt _hurt_.

He was hurt because Sakura seemed to have been playing with him all along. He was hurt because he was foolish enough to believe a high-class girl like her would sincerely look at him as something more. He was hurt that she was with someone else, and that someone else being Sasuke on top of that. It was truly a miserable feeling. Though most of all he was hurt that Sasuke – _Sasuke_, his best friend, his pillar of support and the one person he_ trusted more than anything else_ – had lied to him. He had outright lied, even when Naruto had directly asked him if he held some sort of interest in Sakura. And now… he didn't know what to so say to him. The blond had been in utter awe after the revelation, unable to think of anything that wouldn't sound completely idiotically. He didn't know how and from what angle he should confront the matter. Hell, he didn't even know if he'd be able to keep his calm when doing it!

To make matters worse, every time the winds acted up on him he heard the pleasured voice of his best friend mixed in with Sakura's delighted giggles.

Scared, depressed, and devoid of all previous trust he had put to his most important person, he went for the typical drama-cliché opinion: avoidance.

For the last couple of days, including the weekend, Naruto had avoided talking to or meeting with either of the two people that were bothering his mind – one more so than the other. Evading Sakura was relatively easy, seeing how she was busy with her activities as well as her ever-bitching friends. Sasuke, on the other hand, usually spent his time with Naruto and had plenty of time to speak with him – which was also what he was trying to do every time the blond would vanish out of sight.

Naruto kept himself occupied with other students that suddenly seemed to think of him as a pretty okay guy. Apparently he had gotten a little popular for his courageous encounter with Sakura, and now a lot of his classmates seemed to admire him more than they loathed him. It was hard trying to draw those people from scratch, though, on paper that was already splattered with various colors and shading without an outline. He already knew too much about them.

It wasn't like that with Sasuke.

Avoiding Sasuke wasn't only hard because he was constantly on the watch for him, but also because Naruto knew he really didn't want to avoid Sasuke. Sasuke was his best friend, after all…

…_my best friend who just messed up everything…that bastard,_ he huffed inwardly, thinking back to everything he had with Sasuke before the discovery. The laughter, the talks, the secrets they shared, the paper that slowly was filling in, gradually adding color to a just about perfect sketch… and now that drawing had obtained a huge stain, covering every experience they had lived through.

In the end it was all because of his _ability_. His curse was the cause of everything that went bad in his life, and losing his trust in Sasuke just became the biggest stain on his consciousness for having the darned curse. It was but another secret he wasn't supposed to know in the first place. One of many: all because of that degrading ability. But then again, if he hadn't had it, he wouldn't even have met Sasuke.

"Psst, Naruto, do ya have the answer to that one…?" Kiba whispered to him, bringing him out of his depressed thoughts. Naruto suddenly remembered he was still in the middle of his Japanese class, and should've been following the lecture in order to keep his grades above the average. It was the last class of the day, but that was no excuse for slacking if he wanted to pass.

He shook his head in an apologizing manner to Kiba before digging himself into the book and the texts he was supposed to know by then. The stories he was analyzing were in truth to be told pretty interesting at the best, but even if he could've mastered the exercise if he really concentrated, it only got harder and harder for every second that passed. The thoughts of Sasuke, Sakura, his ability, school, classes… everything came rushing over him, slowly building up into a huge block of steel dangling over his head by a thread so thin it could've been woven by a spider.

By the laws of nature, the thread would tear and the block would fall. And so it did.

The buzzing crept over him slowly, but recognizably. Naruto immediately looked up in search of the possible source, determined to stop it before things could get out of hand. However, it seemed that being who he was never ended him in the lucky-corner. Just as he was about to get up, a sharp, screeching sound of a dying radio searching for a last, useful signal exploded in his head.

Shouting out in pain as the buzzing grew agonizingly stronger, the blond clutched his head just as he stumbled onto his desk. Vaguely, he heard Kiba's voice shouting his name in the background, accompanied by worried gasps and shouts before the buzzing took entirely over his mind.

_Not again..._

'_...bzz...bzzz…ha…bzz… I knew it! …bzz—'_, Sakura's familiar, pleased laughter joined in.

_No, please no…_

'—_you're such a…bzz…bzz…love-sick…horndog—bzz… aren't you, Sasuke-kun—'_

"Argh_…_Just shut the _fuck up _already!"

It took Naruto a moment to realize he was standing in absolute silence. For a short while, he tremendously relieved and enjoyed the short few moments of silence for all they were worth – until his brain caught up with the rest of him and he realized just where he were. Blue eyes softly cracked open.

He winced at the sight of his perplexed classmates, standing around him like an alien that had just teleported its way into the classroom. Kiba looked strangely amused, yet worried at the same time. Some of the girls were already whispering – words that wouldn't be such a secret by the next morning. Even Shikamaru, who barely bothered coming to class, had forgotten his lazy demeanor in favor for staring wonderingly at the blond wonder-boy who'd just gone from screaming idiot, to pretty okay guy, and then back to screaming, _hallucinating_ idiot.

However, the person who was the least pleased by his returning outbursts was their teacher. Kurenai-sensei stared at him with a sharp, skeptical look.

"I really thought we had walked past this stage," she started coolly, red eyes closing for a moment. "No excuses this time… detention after school, Uzumaki-kun."

_Great, detention…the last thing I need right _now, he thought bitterly.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto slumped back into his seat while his Japanese-teacher hushed the students and sent them back to work. Kiba gave him a pat on the shoulder before returning to his respective seat as well. Not much of a condolence, but at least it was one. Better than nothing – and at the moment, Naruto would take anything but nothing…

Taking one last brief glance over the classroom before returning all attention to the lesson, his gaze fleetingly met with a worried one, coming from acquainted dark grey orbs. Sasuke still stood by the window many desks away from his respective one, a pale hand still tightly gripping the handle of a now shut window.

In that one fleeting moment, Naruto easily read the two simple messages those eyes gave.

"_What is bothering you?"_

"_Why won't you let me help…?_"

He didn't send an answer back.

**-SasuNaru-**

Detention wasn't half bad. Naruto had to admit to that as he walked out of the classroom. The physical silence that occurred while his head was still booming with questions and musings had eventually bored him. At the end of his hour he had actually gotten around to doing some school work, meaning he was catching a bit up to his biology class. Sure, losing valuable free time was, like always, the bad end, but on the other hand, what would he spend it on?

_Sulking to myself, probably,_ the blond grimaced at the undeniable truth. _It's not like I did anything before… before Sasuke._

It was almost pitiful how much of his life rotated around the Uchiha. Now, having lost that vital organ, nothing seemed to work in him any longer. Was it really that hard to forgive and forget? It wasn't like he could walk up to his best friend and nonchalantly say he knew he had something for the girl he really liked, _and _that he knew Sasuke lied to him. Or could he? Could he live with the fact that when he finally found a girl he could like, she was with the one person in the entire world he fully trusted – and who had betrayed his trust in matters regarding that girl? Or would it simply be easier to let that part of his life go and start anew? Get some new friends, some new attitudes, and a new person to talk to about everything…?

Naruto snorted, scolding himself. _Don't be stupid. _It had taken him almost a year after they met before he finally started letting Sasuke completely in. And the Uchiha was a special case. It would take him time to find someone else who could keep their secrets to themselves. It was, after all, human to entrust someone with one's life. At times he had wondered if he could address Sasuke as just that – "human".

Obviously, after the happenings as of late, he could. Sasuke was just as any other human: he had necessities, problems, needs and wants – and also, sadly, _secrets_.

Giving a deep sigh to shake of his cloud of thoughts, Naruto slung the bag over his shoulder and aimed for his locker at the end of the empty hallway. As he stuffed away his biology books, he faintly mused over the muteness of the school without any students around. It wasn't like during class, when the walls caught the murmurs coming from behind the doors. Instead it was this absolute emptiness. Walking quietly towards the exit in the pleasant desolation, Naruto lost his mind to his streams of thoughts again.

A crucial mistake, he soon realized. The first thing he saw, as he turned around the last corner before the exit, was Sasuke. Blue eyes widened dramatically as he realized just that. Sasuke stood leaning against the wall beside the wooden double doors, his profile facing the hallway. Dark grey eyes were halfway lidded, dark lashes touching the whiteness of porcelain skin. A familiar, peaceful expression: he was thinking, as the blond could comprehend. The reason _why _he was there needn't be asked for. There was only one alternative here.

Sasuke had been waiting for him. He wanted to speak with him.

_But I don't want to talk to him._

Not having noticed he had been holding his breath, the need for air overpowered his standstill mind. Naruto gasped shakily for air, raising the volume of the otherwise inconspicuous noise a hundred times in the empty halls, and catching the Uchiha's attention

Sasuke whipped his head towards the breathy sound, his eyes snapping open as well, just in time to see a familiar blond sprinting around the corner.

"Na…Naruto!"

Naruto didn't slow down as he heard his friend desperately calling out for him, and unquestionably not when he heard heavy steps setting to pursuing him. All he could think about was getting away. He wasn't ready to do this yet. He couldn't talk to Sasuke now. Naruto continued to run. Turning left, right… faster, faster… right, and then… damn. Meeting him around the next turn was a dead end between two rows of lockers.

On the other hand, Sasuke knew he had his chance once he caught a glint of brightness taking a sharp turn around the corner leading to the locker-hall – one of the few where the school had no other form of escape. No windows, no exits, and not any way out but back. Speeding up, he made for the turn, ready to finally corner the idiot that had been avoiding him for the last week. He made the turn and skidded to a halt, breathy from the unexpected hunt, just about to firmly state his dismay when he was faced with… nothing.

The locker-hall was empty. Save for a few metal locker doors hanging open, nothing was there. No people, no living creatures – and definitely no Naruto. Stopping fully, Sasuke listened for any sort of sound, but was disappointed to be met with utter silence. He walked to the end of the hall and turned again, still listening for any form of life; shallow breathing, dunking against metal, _anything…_ but again, nothing came his way.

Sasuke let out a defeated growl, devoid of the fire he had felt only seconds ago. He turned around, and began walking – his destination being home.

"…Fuck it."

On the other side of the metal plate dividing his locker, Naruto sat shakily, clutching his bag tightly with similar thoughts running through his head. Clenching his jaws tightly he listened to Sasuke's fading steps, waiting until they were entirely gone before exhaling heavily and crawling out from the cramped space and into the empty girls' locker room.

Naruto brushed of some imaginary dust before closing the locker door. He made his way to the closest metal-free wall, leaning heavily against it until gravity pulled him to slide down against it and onto his ass. Burying his head in his hands he let out a desperate scream before sinking back into his confused silence, digging deeper into the misery he had discovered.

He hated doing this. Sasuke was his best friend, after all.

**-SasuNaru-**

_Five minutes after Gai-sensei dismissed his gym-class, the boys' locker room was just about empty – save for one Uchiha Sasuke. The young freshman and high school prodigy had gotten held up by his teacher who pretty much demanded to give him a lecture in his work out on the field. Rugby was a sport that involved lots of body-contact – and lots of mud – yet Sasuke refused to participate actively on that part. Sure, he could make a run for it and he could handle the ball, but he mainly referred from going into defense or wrestling the ball into his grip. Not because he didn't want to get dirty – mud was all over his clothes, for crying loud – but for… personal reasons. Reasons he had no intention of sharing with his teacher._

_He escaped the beast after a bit of smart pestering and promises to try harder the next time. As the raven unzipped his bag, he could feel the mud running uncomfortably down his neck. Now, he couldn't wait to shower the mud off, and take his sweet time with the locker room all to himself. It was the end of the day, so he had no need to rush either. Perfect after a day of annoying teachers and lovesick girls chasing him around the buildings in-between his classes._

_However, that perfectness was quickly flushed down the toilet as he opened his bag to find its contents all messed around in there. Growling angrily, he quickly organized his belongings to discover what was missing, and was greatly enraged to discover that the thief had chosen to take the one thing he'd rather have than anything he had of value in that bag – his one pair of clean boxers._

"_Fuck it…" Sasuke groaned, rubbing his temples as he felt the greasy mass of grass, mud and water already having soaked into the ones he was already wearing. As his temper rose, he felt his body temperature steadily rising with it. He felt uncomfortably warmer by the second, frustrated while trying his best to calm down. What kind of sick pervert stole a ninth-grader's boxers anyway?_

"_It was a sophomore girl," a voice suddenly sounded from his left. Sasuke cautiously snapped his head towards the source, surprised to see someone else still in the room. Any normal boy would be on his way home to play with his new game console by now – but one glance at the boy sitting in the windowsill by the open window told him he wasn't quite what would fit the term "normal". The young Uchiha eyed him carefully, recognizing him as the boy who was permitted to sit on the sideline in the PE class under the condition of headache._

_He was blond, his head one mess of yellowish spikes pointing in every possible direction. The boy was shorter than the class average, had tanned skin with a hint of bronze, his built hid under his baggy one-size-too-big school uniform, and he was wearing a hideous, attention-seeking orange jacket to top it all off. A real bag of wannabe-gangster material, in Sasuke's opinion, but there was also something else. Some of his golden locks were brushing and blending with the blond of his eyelashes – not particularly short, but far from long and flashy – which were framing a set of light cobalt blue eyes._

_One look into those chillingly refreshing orbs, and Sasuke felt all the extra heat his body was producing dissolving into a pleasant cool. This boy – there was something… special about him…_

_The boy raised a blond eyebrow. "Hey, dude…? Are you still there?"_

_When his mind caught up with him – embarrassing him slightly by letting him realize he had been staring – Sasuke fell back into his attitude again. This kid had nothing to do with him. He should just take a shower, and then leave without wearing boxers. Problem solved._

_The Uchiha let the question remain unanswered, and returned to fishing up his needed belongings. At the edge of his eyesight he could see the boy pursing his lips into an annoyed expression, murmuring something incoherent to the raven. Suddenly the boy went stiff, his entrancing eyes widening comically. Out of sheer curiosity, Sasuke turned his head a little further to see just what was going on. Blond strands of hair moved softly in the breeze coming from the outside as the boy stared into thin air, as if his mind was in an entirely other world. For a moment, Sasuke was starting to worry a little. What if the boy was epileptic and about to have a seizure? Should he call someone?_

_However, seconds later and before he could do something, the blond's expression morphed back into the one he had when Sasuke first saw him. Then his lips lifted into a smirk and he looked at Sasuke again, catching the raven's dark grey eyes with his now humored blue ones._

"_Scratch what I said," the boy suddenly said, jumping down from the sill. "There were two of them. The girls who took your boxers, I mean."_

_Now, Sasuke was getting suspicious. First of all, it wasn't possible that the guys knew he was looking for his boxers – unless he had a hand in taking them. A completely unnecessary thing to do, but who knew what people were up to nowadays? And now he was blaming a pair of girls. Not classy, even. Oh, well. He'd humor him._

"_How do you know that?" Sasuke questioned. "Did you perhaps see any of them do it?"_

"_More or less," the blond answered nonchalantly. "They were in here about fifteen minutes ago. Or, one of them was… joined up to share the goods just now. Fangirls – crazy bitches, I say."_

_Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the humored snicker that followed. The boy was annoying him greatly, but somehow… the honest glance in those chilly eyes told him he was speaking the truth. It wasn't entirely unbelievable that a pair of girls with an unhealthy obsession with him decided on taking his underwear, after all. And those eyes…_

_Just then, the blond's eyes glazed over again, and a chill emitted from him before it carried through the room, sending shivers down Sasuke's back as it hit him. The moment ended just as fast as it started, and the boy was smirking again. "Uh-oh—you'd better hurry if you want those boxers in one piece when you find them. It might get a little bloody as well… You know, cat fight. Damn, what did you do to get women all crazed by your underwear?"_

_Sasuke ignored the tease, but the undeniable truth in the boy's words had a huge effect on him. His body moved on its own. Dropping his bag, he went for the door. Just as he was about to start searching the building, the boy spoke again._

"_They're in the music room. Third floor in section H, on the left of the hallway… take the stairs to the left of the south entrance. You can't miss it. They're starting to suggest using the scissors," he informed, grinning amusedly at the panicking expression of the Uchiha. Sasuke nodded once in thanks, before speeding off._

_The raven soon discovered what the blond said had been true. He had stormed the music room just in time to save his boxers from the blades of a sharp scissor and the clutches of something worse – his growing group of fangirls slash stalkers. When he returned to the locker room, the boy was long gone though._

_Sasuke mused over the strange happenings of the day, and that blond boy and his intense cobalt eyes wouldn't leave his mind, even when he went to sleep that night. As much as he disliked admitting it, he was engrossed with the stranger and his mystic eyes. This boy was something else, and he was dying with curiosity to find out just what was making him such. All he did know was that this boy… changed something._

_The next day he got to know his name, in math-class during roll-call._

_Uzumaki Naruto._

**-SasuNaru-**

Naruto had been careful not to bump into Sasuke again. He had slept over at Kiba's to avoid having him come knock on his door, left school on record time each day, avoided his locker and kept his books with him (and knowledge was a heavy burden, mind you), and the likes. The few times he had to actually see Sasuke was in class, and even then he tried sitting as far away as possible and ignore the Uchiha as much as possible. He had been successful for some time now, but even he knew his luck would run out one day. Yet, he wished it wouldn't have to be so soon. He still wasn't ready to talk with Sasuke – at this phase, he doubted he'd ever be – but Sasuke was more than ready. Sasuke wanted answers, and it seemed like he'd do a lot to get them.

Thursday after school, Sasuke finally caught him.

He had been taking his new, secret route from the back of the gym – another method used to keep away from the Uchiha – but the second he turned around the corner of the equipment shed, he knew he was found out.

Pale hands grabbed the shocked blond by his shoulders though his uniform, perhaps a bit rougher than intended, and shoved him hard against the white concrete wall of the shred, knocking the air out of him. Naruto took a desperate gulp of oxygen, and recovered to find himself face to face with a very enraged Uchiha Sasuke. For a split second he noticed just how weary the raven was. The exhaustion and confusion shone clearly through the red glint of anger his eyes shone with, and his skin was paler than usual. A sting of slight regret and guilt spread from his clenching stomach. That's when the shouting started.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Sasuke growled, his eyes sending a piercing glare at the blond thrown up against the wall.

Naruto growled back at him. "Get the fuck _off _of me, Sasuke."

"Not until I get some answers, and you better give them to me, moron," Sasuke's grip tightened visibly as his irritation increased. Naruto knew he was dead serious. "Now… tell me what's going on."

"Let _go_ of me!" Naruto stubbornly replied, violently trashing to get away from the tightening grip. At one point he even started kicking his way out, but to no avail over the stronger raven. Sasuke's patience was wearing thin, though.

"Just… _darn it,_ Naruto!" Sasuke finally exclaimed losing his cool as he punched the wall to said blond's left, bruising his hand heavily and leaving a slight stain of blood. He didn't care though. He let go of the blond, but kept him in place with a meaningful glare clearly stating there was no running away now. "I've been trying to talk to you for more than a week now, yet every time I try to confront you, you disappear into thin air! When you look at me, you look like you've seen your worst nightmare – and you know what's even worse? I don't even know what the _fuck _I did!"

"What you did…?" Naruto growled deeply, as he nursed his shoulder from the rough treatment it just received. He knew the cat was out of the bag now. There was no holding back. "I'll tell you what you fucking did. You fucking _lied_ to me, bastard! You betrayed me and ruined my life. There, are you happy now?"

A glint of panic flashed through Sasuke's grey eyes before disappearing. But Naruto had caught it. Sasuke exhaled heavily. "Enlighten me."

The request just enraged Naruto further. A sort of icily cold, freezing anger emitted from him as he spoke. "Don't you dare pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!" he accused angrily. Now he was lying even more. "…Sakura! You told me you didn't like her like that, but it was all a lie, wasn't it? Did you think it would be alright to keep it behind my back like that? Did you think it would be _fun_ to fool around with the girl you_ knew I liked_ while I still wandered around in merry-fucking-wonderland thinking I still had a fucking chance to be with her?"

"That wasn't a lie!" Sasuke suddenly protested, but Naruto would have none of it.

"I _heard_ you." The chilly statement alone changed Sasuke's expression into an unreadable one. Only the confusion was clear. Naruto decided to mercilessly squash that, too. The bastard deserved it after all. "I know you lied, because I _fucking heard you_ with her. I _heard_ you moaning in your sick little world of pleasure while she's laughing and talking dirty with you! Does 'love-sick _horndog_' sound familiar to you? Want me to _enlighten _you further? 'Oh, you're so tight, so good – so mother-fucking amazing!' Whoa, thanks for the info! Did you maybe plan for me to hear it sooner or later just so you could rub it into my face later on? As if lying to my face wasn't enough for you, _sadistic bastard… _I_ trusted _you,_ Sasuke!_"

By then, Naruto couldn't help a few angry tears from escaping. He hoped they'd go unnoticed. Sasuke seemed to have more than enough with trying to cover his own expression, but it was pretty much useless. A tint of red shone clearly against his otherwise pale cheeks, and the emotions – the fear, the confusion, the despair, the anger – were too much to simply lock away, even for Sasuke. Naruto wasn't lucky enough though, and Sasuke did notice the salty drops making their way down to his scarred cheeks. Before he could stop it, Sasuke was already in front of him, breathing uneven as he brushed away the small tears.

Naruto shied away immediately, as if Sasuke had cut him, glaring hatefully at the raven and shakily protesting. "Don't touch me…"

"I want to," Sasuke retorted, stepping forward to get the last one. Naruto didn't know why he let him. "It's not true, dobe… I don't know what you've been mixing up, but I'm not like that… with Sakura."

"S-stop lying already…" Naruto felt the cold anger ebb away as the warmth from Sasuke's pale hand invaded him with a pleasant calmness. He wanted to somehow believe what the Uchiha was saying was true, but he knew it was otherwise. The winds had told him that… and the winds didn't lie. _I can't trust him._

"I promise you, it's not like that," Sasuke tried again, this time gently placing his hands on the cold cheeks, tenderly tracing the scars leading down to a slightly squared chin.

Picking himself together, Naruto lifted his own hands and grabbed the pale wrists just about to push Sasuke away when a small gust of wind blew up around them. He immediately tensed staring right ahead as his head turned into a whole radiobroadcast. Sasuke knew exactly what was happening from the very the moment Naruto's eyes familiarly widened and glazed over. However, this time it was different. The cold energy that created the disturbances and the painful buzzing ran through their connected skin. For Naruto, the signals suddenly became clear, and the pain of the buzzing dissolved entirely.

And he heard Sakura…

'_I knew there was a reason why you wouldn't take me out… you already liked someone! But I guess I didn't expect to find out like this.'_

The signal suddenly broke off, the breeze settled around the two and everything returned to normal… nearly everything. They stood staring for another moment, both confused and shocked beyond anything they had felt before. Naruto cast his eyes down for a moment as he let Sakura's words sink in. His grip on Sasuke's wrists tightened as he dearly realized his mistake. Sasuke had been speaking the truth. He didn't like Sakura.

"I… Sasu—I just…" the words wouldn't seem to form on his tongue as he looked up at Sasuke again. He was met with a still confused but understanding expression.

"It's alright. I heard it."

_He could hear it as well?_ A voice mused in the back of his head, but Naruto was more concerned of a whole other matter. He had to make sure his best friend knew how much he regretted what he had done. He deserved to hear it. "I…Oh fuck, sorry… Sasuke, I'm so sorry—"

But the blond should've known not all the secrets were out of the box. As they had been talking, the sky had darkened, and the trees had started moving as winds slowly but surely started to pick up. A particular strong gale came brushing past them, and it was eager to rely its message to the one who could hear it. Cobalt eyes glazed over, and the cold energy he emitted fled through their still connected hands. The signal became clearer than ever, and was a loud speaker above the blasting noise of the wind around them. But by every sound he heard, Naruto's eyes widened even further in utter disbelief.

'_Naruto…'_

It was Sasuke's voice.

'_Mhm… Nah… oh God, Naru…to…'_

It was Sasuke moaning.

'_Naru…oh yeah…you're so tight, Naruto… so good…'_

It was Sasuke pleasuring himself.

'_Yes…keep going, Naru… keep—ah…ah, yes, yes, yes…Naruto!'_

It was Sasuke calling his name.

'_Ngh—ah…you're… so fucking amazing… Fuck, you'll make me come…'_

It was Sasuke…

'_I'm coming… Yes, I'm… ngh, ah—N-Naruto!'_

…it was Sasuke jerking off to _him_.

**-SasuNaru-**

The signal wore off. Only silence, and the blowing of wind, was left between them.

The quiet staring, the reeling minds, the unbearable silence… The gaze was enough. One look at Sasuke told him he knew what he had heard. He knew he had heard him. He couldn't talk his way out of this one. He couldn't… he had heard. It was breaking. He felt his cheeks heat up. No, no, no, no… it couldn't be… but it was.

"N…Naruto… I—"

The voice calling his name – the voice he'd heard, so lustful, so wanting – was the last straw.

One small push later, one bend to pick up his bag, and he ran.

Wide eyed and more confused than ever, he ran off, never looking back to the voice desperately shouting after him.

He had ruined _everything._

**-SasuNaru-**

Naruto didn't show up for school that Friday.

_**End Chapter**_

**A/N: Finally, the 4th chapter. I'm really sorry for the long wait. Life happens, and then fanfics die… So do authoresses, seemingly. .**

**To avoid having this happen again, I've put up a plan. It can be read on my profile for now. :3**

**I'm back, though! Hopefully to stay, and I've got so many things I want to do! But, as seen in my plan, I'll contain myself. ^^" However, I feel like I lost a bunch of friends in my absence – I can't even remember what our last conversations were about, haha… So I ask you guys to PM me or something again, so that we can get back on track. I really miss you guys. /3**

**If anyone read "Fireworks", I have to admit it was a pretty selfish fic… but I like it. It tells a little about how I've been feeling lately, and I got to do some first person POV-ing as practise for an upcoming fic… but that won't be until… yeah… after "WCW" (this one) and "WTF ILU", the one-shot gifts I promised, and another fic, "A little too perfect", that I can't even remember writing… xD**

**But I won't keep ranting here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. ****I want to finish this as fast as possible, but I'm a bad promise-keeper and a very good liar, as it seems…**

**For those who were curious, no one got the chapter 4 title right (or did someone…?) but I know someone got chapter 5's title right. If that person is still reading this (meaning, leaves a PM or a note, or something) I'll give them a small surprise. :3 Also, for the one who suggested "Zephyr"… may I use that title for chapter 2? I really disliked chapter 2's title as it is the only one that cracks the patters. Zephyr sounder more… fitting, I guess. :3 Keep guessing people! **

**Thanks a lot for reading! (_ _) *bows***

**-Ai**


	5. Hurricane

**The Winds Can Whisper**

**A Naruto Fanfiction by TKCat**

**Rating: M**

**Pairing: SasuNaru**

**Genre: Supernatural, Romance**

**Warnings: Shonen-Ai (BL), Yaoi (M/M), Sexual Content**

**Beta'ed by: [Un-Beta'ed]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**A/N: I'm not really in the mood for this update, and at the same time, I am. To get it straight: I shouldn't be taking the time to update anything, seeing how I just got drawn for the written exam in mathematics. I'm not sure how you do it in the rest of the world, but here we're drawn in May/June in one of the subjects we have every year, either in written or oral exams. I was hoping for Oral Science, or Oral Chemistry, but I had to be one of the few who got math… sucks to be me.**

**But though I should be getting down probability formulas and doing differentiation, I suddenly got the spirit to write. Lately I've been busy with the finals, and our congregation just had this youth conference I helped out in. The concept was really sweet… I'm really proud of my "siblings". Also, I'm waiting in excitement for more information on where I'm going to study. Sometime in August, I'll be sitting on a plane to NYC – and I've never been outside Europe! I'm so excited!**

**I think what gave me a kick start was finally discovering what was wrong with my account… apparently I had disabled all forms of communication. Whoops, my bad. ^^"**

**IMPORTANT! I'm looking for the person who offered to write the sequel of WCW. I remember the penname to be something starting with Red (we had barely established contact, so I only remember her by that…), but I can't seem to find them anywhere anymore… The reason why I want to contact them is to ask if they're still interested. If they're not, that's alright as well. I've come up with an idea for a possible sequel if they don't want to do it. I'll announce the decision along with chapter 6. **

**Sorry for the wait! Here's the story!**

**THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO: **_**Houseki-ShinobuInc**_

…_who guessed the chapter name of chapter 5 before even chapter 4 was out. This is in her honor!Later on, __**Corrosive Moon**__ and __**Loki.1827**__ also guessed right. Congrats!_

**Chapter 5: Hurricane**

"_Ring… ring…_"

The room was quiet. Soft darkness crept up against the walls, crawling over the scrawny furniture and belongings of the apartment's owner. Some empty food cans littered the floor. So did dirty laundry and filthy school books. The biology homework was due two days ago. The air was heavy. The room was sleepy. The lump of multicolored blankets in the corner was sluggish. There was also a source of scarce light. It painted the walls softly with blue.

A phone was ringing. "_Ring… ring… ring…_"

The sound was loud, annoyingly so. It's thrown back against the barriers separating the room from everything else. The volume arose. It's a classic tune. It's cold. Movement was heard, joining in with the ringing. The sound was loud, annoyingly so… but it meant someone cared.

"…_ring… ring…_"

It kept ringing. Someone wanted to talk with the owner. Its cries were desperate at that point. Soon the voicemail would kick in. It kept ringing, loudly, annoyingly so… but someone still cared.

"_Ring_… _ring—click._"

And then someone answered the fading prayers. A sluggish hand reached out from under the blankets. The room wasn't that dark anymore. He picked up, letting his exhausted breath be his drained greeting.

A voice spoke. "_Naruto, it's—_"

Another click… he hung up.

**-SasuNaru-**

After the weekend, Monday rolled around. It was already lunch, and the students have mostly forgotten their distaste for the first day of the week. Sure, the first classes are always a pain, but the habit they've been building though the years helped suppressing it. The week had started, and now they live through it looking forward to the last bell on Friday, to take in the freedom of the weekend, and then repeat it all over again. Positively, they've met up with their friends again; they get to steal glances at their crushes, and more gossip is to be made and exchanged.

Maybe not being able to do that this one Monday is what made him realize just how trivial those things were. And maybe not being able to do those trivial things made him understand how much he had gotten used to it. It was one thing he had taken for granted – the fact that after the weekend he'd see him again. He'd wait for him. They'd exchange greetings at the gate, letting the delight of seeing the other again overpower any drowsiness the weekend had left them with. Then they'd pull through the week together. Granted, the pattern had been quite messed up as of late, but today more so than ever.

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes in the process to avoid having them roam all over the place in a dim hope of finding a flash of yellowish blond running around in the cafeteria. Trying to focus on his half eaten lunch-baguette didn't help at all – he'd still be unable to resist looking around for his best friend, if he had the right to call him that any longer.

Naruto didn't come to school today, either.

_Understandable to some point?_ Sasuke mused over that while taking a sip of his orange juice. _Yeah, definitely understandable_, but that didn't make it any less frustrating. In fact, his frustration was growing to the point where even his fangirls wouldn't dare approach the otherwise empty table he sat at, despite the golden opportunity to "come to his rescue" and keep him company. Of course, although it did work on most of the student body, some would forever go unaffected. For instance, there was one pink annoyance among those…

"Whoa, who lit you on fire?" Sakura asked casually as she took an unpermitted seat across the circular, corner table the raven had seized all to himself at the beginning of the period. He didn't say anything though, as she made herself comfortable and placed her belongings on the surface. To the people watching, the scene was nothing more than the schools possible and very likely super-couple having lunch together on a table out of hearing range for anyone else. The truth was of an entirely different nature.

Sasuke never really saw Sakura as anything but a person who had some sort of mutual understanding with him in certain matters. She was a smart girl in her own right, and maybe one of the few people he could actually let befriend him… but as of late she'd made his life nothing less than miserable, simply by being one of the few alright girls in their schoolyard. He couldn't blame it all on her, though… even if it was damn tempting.

"Um, Earth calling captain Uchiha-Depressive-Sasuke – we need you to come down from planet Emo and tell us what the heck is going on with you," Sakura pestered as she packed out her lunch-box. Sasuke gave her a look that clearly asked her to back off. Unnecessary, as he knew she'd ignore it. She lowered her eyelids. "So I take it Naruto didn't come today, huh?"

"Seems so," Sasuke grumbled, trying to seem indifferent about the matter. In Sakura's eyes, the attempt was in vain.

"Damn, I even made lunch for all of us. Now I'll gain ten pounds just because I have to eat it all by myself, and you _know_ that doesn't go well with doing summersaults," she complained jestingly in a shot on lightening the mood of her brooding companion. She sighed, flipping her pink hair when he didn't give her a reaction. "See, that's why I dislike you. Naruto would've laughed at that, and if _he_ made that joke, _you _would've laughed. Your social skills were probably what scared him off."

Sakura caught the tiny flinch the Uchiha gave at her statement. She wasn't being completely serious, but to get that sort of reaction she must've brushed the nail. A frown found its way to her delicate face. _Time to start hammering_, she resolved with herself before picking up her sharpest tools that also gave her the position she had in the school system: her fast brain and sharp tongue.

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened."

Sakura clicked her tongue at the obvious lie. "Then let me put it like this: what did the yearning little puppy do to scare away my friend?"

"There is no puppy, Sakura—"

"You know darn well I meant you," she abruptly cut him off, studying his face as his dark grey orbs drifted ever so slightly toward the lower right corner of his eye, causing a small cease to appear above his eyebrow. Pale lids lowered slightly. The guilt was easy to read. She gave her finishing blow. "I'm worried."

A craving silence followed. It took Sasuke approximately ten seconds to give in. With a deep sigh and a pale hand gripping at the roots of his bangs, he formed an answer. "He knows."

Sakura gasped inaudibly at the information. She varied between gaping and closing her mouth like a gold fish while trying to form a reply, then closed her lips into a thin line. "Does he know… the thing, or… _that_ thing?"

"…_That_ thing, unfortunately," Sasuke replied, directing his gaze back to his forgotten lunch. He wasn't sure he'd be able to digest the rest of it.

"Oh…" Sakura mumbled awkwardly, trying to think of something to say. Of every situation, her intellect had to fail her just when it was needed. "Um… did it go well?"

Sasuke gave her a degrading glance. "I'm barely getting any sleep at night, and look: here we are, all because of it. Does that answer your question?" Sakura exhaled, moving her gaze back to her lunch as well. That was the wrong question to ask. They sat in silence for another amount of time.

"Well…" the rosette tried, more subtly this time. "…maybe you should have made him aware of the other thing before you confronted him with _that_ thing. You know, changing the order helps avoid misunderstandings. Actually, if you were going to say anything at all, I'd think you were smart enough not to walk up and tell him how you want to screw his brains out all night before you tell him how you—"

"He found out on his own, alright?" the Uchiha spoke up, cutting off her talking for the first time Sakura could remember since meeting him. Looking at his frustrated expression, she also caught a tingle of pink dusting his cheeks along with the deep regret that painted his face. What he had said was however shocking to her as well. There was no way that could've happened. And he needn't direct his anger on her, either… unless he was thinking that she…

Sakura's expression became pleading as she spoke in pure honesty. "Sasuke-kun, I swear, I haven't told – not even mentioned it – to a single soul out there, no matter how tempting it was. I'm not that kind of person, you know that, right? I wouldn't ever—"

"I know it wasn't you, Sakura," he reassured her, making her let out a sigh of relief.

She was however curious what else could've triggered the event. Sakura voiced her wonder, and it took Sasuke less than a second to form an answer.

"The day you and your parents visited about that company-business…the moment you walked in on me that day, it became a secret between two parts. Let me put it like this," Sasuke spoke, his dark eyes staring intensely outside the massive windows separating them from the upcoming storm that was already a week late according to what the meteorologists were talking about on the news as of late. The comfortable breezes were already developing into gales of wind, making the trees dance to their singing tunes. Sasuke continued. "…Naruto is really good at discovering secrets."

The reply didn't really answer her question, but she guessed she could live that for now. If Sasuke really didn't want to talk about it with her, she would leave him alone about it – even if it was sad to watch her friend (yes, she thought of both him and Naruto as her friends) losing the relationship he had been building with the only person she had met that could truly make him smile. When she first got a hint of the affection the Uchiha held for the school's blond nobody, she couldn't help but stick her nose further into it. What she found was something so distressingly beautiful that seeing it all go to vain just like that wouldn't be pleasing to her even if she still was thinking she had a chance at the school's Prince Charming – the prince who wanted the boy down the street that no one really cared about.

Sakura nearly laughed. Such a cheesy romance that would've been; she knew Sasuke wouldn't want that. At times, she wondered if he wanted _anything_ in exchange for the time he put out just being with the blond idiot, who didn't even _know_.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun," she started to shake off her depressing thoughts. He looked up at her, ever so slightly, as she spoke. Sakura twisted her glossy lips into a consoling smile. "It's going to be okay. You'll just have to find him and tell him the truth, and then… well, you'll make up."

"It's not that easy, Sakura…"

"But it doesn't have to be so complicated either," she shot back at his negative answer. "Naruto is kind, he's caring… and he's good for you. I hate seeing you sulking like this, hurting the both of you… he'll understand. I know he will."

"But you don't know Naruto like I do, Sakura." At the cold tone of his voice, Sakura kept quiet, despite her urge to disagree. There was something strange moving in the depths of those grey eyes. Sasuke spoke up again. "When he's scared of something, Naruto stays and overcomes his fears. Facing up with you for the first time is enough proof for that. When he's absolutely fucking terrified, he is just like any other human being. He runs away. Look, he has known something since nearly a week before I confronted him about it, and he kept avoiding me at any possible cost. I kept chasing, and that did get me somewhere, but now I'm afraid that even if I was to chase him to the very end of the world, that still wouldn't fix… _this_."

Sakura was awed for a couple of seconds before collecting herself. She was just about to say something else when Sasuke stopped her with a few strong and serious words.

"Don't talk like you know everything."

_Upper-cut, and score,_ Sakura winced mentally. The rosette did however see the truth in the words he spoke. Alright, so she didn't know Naruto, or Sasuke, that well, but she did have a long line of relationship-issues as well as romance-novel solutions in her bag of brains and knowledge. She thought she'd be able to help them both out. Maybe she did overestimate her power at this one. She bit her lips in a dejected fashion. _I can't heal everything_. Sakura had one thing more she knew she had to say, though.

"Then maybe it's time to stop running… and let him to the chasing, for once." Sasuke didn't give any sign of paying attention as she made the statement, but she knew very well he was still listening. A faint, careful smile reached her lips. "Even if you don't see it now, Naruto is very dependent on you as well. I'm sure… he'll come around."

The bell rung, signalizing that it was time to head to the next classes. Sakura collected her things and bid her goodbye before leaving the cafeteria, after one last long look at the indifferent Uchiha. Only when the cafeteria was completely empty, Sasuke stood up and took his leave as well.

**-SasuNaru-**

"_Ring… ring…_"

The phone was ringing again.

The same classic tone was once again echoing against the walls. They were, once again, colored softly with a shade of blue. The ringing kept up, bouncing of the ceiling. Loudly annoying; someone still cared. This time, the vibration of the sound didn't hit garbage and laundry lying around and about. The soft blue light didn't find them either. The room, the apartment – it was oddly clean. There was not a single plate on the counter.

"…_ring…ring…ring…_"

The air was cleaner, too. Someone had kept the door open, maybe even the windows. The drowsiness was gone. The sleepy lump in the corner had never existed – the bed was made, for once. There lay the phone, still ringing. Still calling, still screeching, desperate for an answer; loudly annoying, but someone still cared. Other than that, the room wasn't sleepy. Yet the room was not awake – just oddly empty.

"…_ring…ring_…"

The ringing kept going, but it was time to realize. It was time to stop. The phone kept ringing, the light kept shining…

"…_ring…_"

Then the room went dark again.

No one picked up.

**-SasuNaru-**

Weekend was hell. Naruto's messed up appearance as he neared the school gates was undeniable proof of that.

He knew his school uniform, albeit white and clean, didn't sit quite right. The socks he was wearing had slid halfway off inside his shoes, and even his favorite boxers decided to annoy the crap out of him by creeping up the crack between his bottoms, creating an ugly itch he didn't dare get rid of when surrounded by crowds of people he went to school with. The heavy bags under his eyes and more-than-usually-messed-up hair already had them whispering.

And as if he couldn't hear their whispers the first time, the recent gales made sure to replay them all in his mind, again. Honestly, he didn't care what his classmates were assuming – some wild ideas being rough nights, drugs and college parties – even if a few of them weren't that much off, but he had truly had his fill the last days when it came to the winds' whispers.

The majority of the buzzing was a result of what had happened Thursday, nearly a week ago. Naruto swallowed uncomfortably as the memories flooded back to him. After what… happened, pieces of Sakura's conversation with – insert huge wince here – Sasuke were pretty frequent. The scene was pretty clear in his mind by now, and only few unimportant words (that he could easily fill in) were left out in the big context. That also meant that the noises of Sasuke's frequent "solo-performances" also became quite regular on the broadcast.

To summarize it all, it seemed Sakura had a connection with the Uchiha family through her parents that were actively forming deals and agreements with the traveling agency the Uchihas ran. One of the days when they had decided to come over, Sakura had been asked to get Sasuke from his room. When opening the door, she was met with a teenage-boy doing what teenage-boys around their age usually did alone in their dimly lit habitations: jerk off to their current sexual fantasies and desires.

Naruto couldn't help a visible flinch as he got that far. He'd rather not think too much about those parts of the encounter – it only drove the nails even deeper into him than what they already were. Luckily, he didn't get much more than Sakura's giggles as she pointed out the obvious, while Sasuke mostly remained silent after that… even though the scowl he was probably wearing just about shone as a LCD TV in the blond's mind.

_Sakura's light laughter…_

'_Oh god, I should have realized much sooner!'_

'_Sakura… shit.'_

The rustling of blankets followed by a stream of curses…

'_Ha… this is too rich! I knew it! All this time with that antisocial-behavior of yours, while in reality… You're such a love-sick little horndog, aren't you, Sasuke-kun?'_

A grunt, giving away an invisible scowl…

'_What the fuck are you doing here?'_

'_Oh, I was just asked to come get you… dinner, you know. But don't change the subject! I knew there was a reason why you wouldn't take me out… you already liked someone! But I guess I didn't expect to find out like this.'_

'_Sakura, don't—just shut it, alright?'_

'_No, no, no you naughty, little… I'm curious now! Who is it that has Uchiha Sasuke crawling under the covers to take care of certain problems, hmm? Wait, by Naruto… don't tell me that's the blond you hang around with? Uzu—'_

"—maki Naruto!"

It took Naruto a second to realize he had been caught in another of his personal radio frequencies when a familiar voice shouted his name from across the schoolyard. Looking up, he waved sluggishly over at Kiba and the gang, debating whether or not to make his way over to them. It was pretty much decided that he'd have to, even if he looked like hell had ran over him… which wasn't that far from the truth, in his opinion.

Naruto sighed as he put his feet into motion once again, aiming for a still waving Kiba and the smiling faces of the others. If it was up to him, he still wouldn't be back – even if it was already Wednesday. Tsunade had, however, just about forced him into going after calling sick for five whole days, including the weekend, when he only left the apartment once to do some grocery shopping (which was in vain, as he had a tough time getting anything down without having it come up again) while Tsunade had someone clean his place up. For being so long since the incident, Naruto personally thought he felt worse than ever.

"Naruto, you're back! We just about thought someone had killed you and left your body to rot somewhere in the sewers – and by the looks of it, we weren't far off either!" Kiba immediately teased, and the rest of the group barked out in laughter. Naruto gave a tired grin of his own, joking back at said murderer being a well-known serial killer of students named "the Flu". And soon the conversation switched to everything but what he had been up to the past days.

Naruto couldn't find the energy to participate as eagerly as he normally would have. His mind kept switching back to a certain Uchiha and the issue he had at hand… how could Sasuke do this to him? Was the thing about being his best friend all a scheme to fulfill his own sick pleasure? What about all the times they had shared body contact when watching movies and playing games, the touchy jokes they shared? Did he get off on that, too? What about when he slept over, and fell asleep before the Uchiha? Did Sasuke watch him in his sleep? Did he _touch _him while he slept…? All the times he had opened himself to the person he trusted… just for how long had he been taken advantage of?

How could Sasuke do that to him…?

No, the question should rather be: how could he do this to Sasuke? Because in the very, bitter end his ability was the only thing he had to blame. If not for this ability, none of it would've happened. It would all be alright. But then again, thinking back it was pretty obvious that without his strange curse… he wouldn't have met Sasuke in the first place. That thought alone was colder than any of the buzzing he had ever endured. Because if not for Sasuke, he doubted he would've lasted any longer than the first few months of the freshman year. The meaningless buzzing that was constantly filling his mind, slowly driving him absolutely crazy, was sadly proof of that

Naruto was sure of one thing. He needed to work things out for himself, and then he needed to speak with Sasuke. The lack of the ability to concentrate was making it a hell of a lot harder that he estimated it would have been, but he'd have to deal with it. Whether he liked it or not, Sasuke was still…

As the bell rung, signalizing it was time to get to class, Naruto spotted familiar contrasts of black and pale white in the crook of his eye. He knew Sasuke had seen him, but he pretended not to notice as he made his way to biology. He was back to avoidance at all cost. The look of immense relief in those familiar dark grey orbs hurt too much to risk meeting that gaze again in the near future.

**-SasuNaru-**

The room was quiet once more. The phone didn't ring today.

Instead there was a message:

"_Please."_

**-SasuNaru-**

Sleep didn't come easily for Naruto the following nights. After two whole days of avoiding speaking with Sasuke, he felt even worse than before. Even Kiba and the others were beginning to notice something. Hinata, a nice and quiet girl from the gang, had expressed her worry subtly. He was grateful for that, but the others – Chouji, Lee and Tenten to mention some – had been louder about it. Nonetheless, they all suspected something, and they were beginning to connect the dots. One of those dots they were awfully close to was none other than Sasuke.

Sasuke hadn't approached him, though. Other than one single text message he hadn't heard anything from the Uchiha. Naruto didn't know if he should be relieved of worried about that. When he had pulled the avoidance card before, Sasuke had been pestering, chasing him around like a bee after honey to find out just what was going on. Now it was like Sasuke subtly was avoiding him as well. The Uchiha didn't look at him during the classes, didn't try talk to him and appeared to have given up on speaking with him ever again. On the other hand, this time Sasuke knew _why_ he was avoiding him. The last time Naruto had left him with one black hole without any explanation. He knew if he was in Sasuke's situation back then, he would probably do the same.

But even though Sasuke didn't chase him down to talk, someone else had far from given up on getting his tongue running.

Sakura was another person he didn't want to talk to, reason already given, but she seemed pretty much set on talking with him. It was only by sheer luck that the young Haruno's busy schedule kept her from spending much time tracking him down. Her pestering only added to his own defeat – meaning his body defeating him.

The exhaustion of schoolwork joining in with forcing himself to digest food no longer mixed well with his issues. Also, trying to keep his apartment airtight to avoid the cold buzzing was becoming one hell of a bother. The upcoming storm was supposed to reach a maximum the coming weekend, and it seemed like no matter what he did the gales outside somehow reached him with their countless, unnecessary stories. It was understandable that sleep was a scarce luxury for him, considering the factors playing in there.

However, the one factor that played the main role in his nightly vents looking for 'Z's to catch, was the story the gales loved telling most of all – and also the one he'd rather not hear. They started it every time his mind drifted, and he unconsciously let his thoughts wander around the person he despised the most at the moment, yet knew he needed more than anyone else.

He grunted, rolling over in his bed and glared bitterly out into the darkness. _Fuck… how did it turn out like this?_

Slowly, he closed his eyes and let sleep claim him. Outside, the gales were roaring, imitating the sound of his name emitted from a sinful pair of pale pink lips.

**-SasuNaru-**

Naruto woke with a start, abruptly sitting up in his bed, feeling drowsy and perplexed. He had no idea what had drawn him so unexpectedly out of Wonderland – not that he could remember what dreams he had been living there, anyway – but as he peered out into the darkness in front of him, he gradually became aware of the feeling of someone watching him. It took him a few moments, but the pitch black soon lessened into a dark haze over his room, like someone had put a veil in front of his eyes. Blinking a few times he slowly turned his head towards the door.

At first, nothing could be seen. However, as soon as the veil was lessened he could make out the contours of the kitchen and the living room… and his breath hitched. His blood pounded in his ears. There was a figure standing only a few feet away from his bed.

Naruto felt himself flush as he took in the all too familiar outlines of the face he progressively recognized even in the obscurity. Too baffled to think of something rational to say, he left out the breath he had been holding since he noticed the presence.

"Sasuke…"

The figure didn't move. It gave no sign of confirming or denying the subtle accusation. There was no doubt though. It truly was Sasuke standing there. Naruto swallowed thickly, still feeling the haze of sleep even after being brought to his fully alerted state. _What is he doing here?_

Suddenly, Sasuke moved. It didn't take long before Naruto felt additional load of a knee weighting down on his bed. Even though it was hard to see, as the light no longer hit the right angle, he could still feel the presence of his best friend right by him. It was a strangely cooling presence, though. Naruto wasn't left alone to do his musing for a second, before the same manifestation bluntly made itself known. The blond felt it in the form of air coming out in huffs against his cheek. His fingers tightened their hold on his bed sheets. Sasuke eased himself onto him, slowly pushing him to fall down, head into the pillow. He was keeping him trapped against the mattress using his weight. The proximity was killing him. His mind went skydiving and couldn't seem to collect itself enough to pull the strings of the parachute. The breath on his face drove him crazy.

Familiar clammy hands slid up to cup his face as the body settled between his legs. The cold tip of a nose brushed against the side of his, and if he looked carefully he'd find dark grey orbs half lidded, focus on his own unreadable ones.

'_Naruto…'_

Cobalt eyes narrowed at the deep groan, a vivid outlet of air hitting him with it. He somehow recognized it. The feeling of recognition faded and his eyes went impossibly wide, as a damp muscle plunged past his lips and into his passive mouth. Unable to even gasp, as it was swallowed by the mouth moving against his own, Naruto inhaled deeply though his nose, trying to register just what was going on. The clammy hands caressed his face, keeping his head in place for the roaming lips as Sasuke kissed him harder, his orifice devouring everything in its reach. A trail of saliva escaped their connection, running tantalizingly down his chin, down his throat…

It suddenly dawned on him that Sasuke was kissing him.

Panicked, Naruto bucked his hips, struggling wildly to get away from what was happening. It was to no avail though. Sasuke remained on top of him, emitting sounds that rather seemed to express his enjoyment of the struggle he was presented with. Trashing violently around, Naruto managed to break away from the devouring kiss, gasping for air and throwing his head back to free his windpipe. The body kept rubbing against him, the free lips soon found his neck, awaking unknown sensations to dance along his skin and drawing an uninvited mewl past his lips. Soon, the buttons of his pajama shirt were popped, and new skin was exposed to travelling hands. He kept resisting the advances.

'_Ah…Yes, like that… do it like that…'_

Enraged by the sultry manner of the voice, Naruto found his own will to shout out. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing?" No response but another profound moan was returned. By then his breathing was coming in short uneven gasps. He felt his eyes sting with the anger he felt over being so vulnerable, unable to act upon his own will. And yet, the new awareness of having his body handled with such delicate desire… it was overwhelming. Naruto had never felt such hunger directed so expertly at him and his body. He was ashamed to admit that his body was reacting lecherously to the stimulations without his approval. The proof was the stirring of arousal he felt, rising slowly from between his legs where it was encouraged by a way too enthusiastic thigh.

Physically, it felt good – _very _good. It wasn't what he wanted, though. By the correct terms he was being touched inappropriately, without his consent. What made it worse was that it was _Sasuke _who was ravishing him, enclosing him with the devouring sensation, caging him to prevent his escape, forcing him put out for him, using him… Sasuke wouldn't do that. Why would he? Why _was_ he doing that?

The sinful mouth was sucking unreservedly on an engorged nipple. Saliva from previous acts was cooling on his skin. A pale hand was playing tantalizingly with the band of his underwear. A breath of a breeze sent shudders down his back. His molester was entirely unfazed by it, keeping up his ministration and pleased growls, set on making his chosen partner respond in the same way at any cost. The hand slipped further into his boxers. Teeth were gnawing gently on a rock hard bud of flesh. Naruto wanted to cry.

"Mn…ah…hah… please, Sasu… stop it… _Sasuke…"_

He didn't expect his pleas to have any effect on the impetuousness his best friend was displaying. Naruto was surprised when the body slowly detached itself from him, slowly backing away. Once the weight keeping him down was gone, Naruto regained some of his senses. He sat up a little, upper back pressing against the dresser he used as a headboard for his so-called bed (he sarcastically remembered Sasuke remarking it to be a lump of mattresses thrown together to make an excuse for the trivial bedroom furniture). Throwing a gaze down, he found his body to be in a state of "half-undressed" and extremely exposed with his shirt wide open and pants riding halfway down his thighs. He wanted to fix it badly, but was made aware that Sasuke was still there when the other boy's calves settled beside his knees.

Looking up, Naruto easily found Sasuke's face in the now nearly faded darkness. Cobalt shining with unshed frustration clashed with the darkest shade of grey. Naruto breathed evenly as he carefully watched Sasuke's blank expression. He squinted in puzzlement as he noticed the raven seemed totally unaffected by what had just occurred. The idea was unexpectedly chilling, in a bad way – Sasuke just ravishing him and being completely indifferent about it only seconds later. And he was wearing that unreadable expression, like a porcelain mask that hadn't and wouldn't ever show anything but one manifestation… Naruto suddenly felt very cold.

Abruptly, Sasuke moved. He crawled forward, stopping as he was on all four limbs as a cage over the other boy. Naruto swallowed as he followed the movement carefully, not daring to move in case Sasuke decided to pick up from where he left – without stopping this time. A pale hand lifted and disappeared. Naruto kept his eyes locked on the expressionless face. He faintly registered the sound of a zipper and the rustling of clothing. And then, in front of his eyes, the porcelain melted and left an expression of deep concentration. The focus wasn't on him though. It was in an entirely other world. It was as if Naruto wasn't even there any longer.

A groan sounded from him. Naruto watched perplexed, slightly amazed, as Sasuke gradually began breathing harshly, gnawing at his bottom lip to keep too much sound from escaping. His breath would hitch from time to time, before continuing unevenly. Behind the stifled moans, Naruto could hear the friction of skin against skin. His gaze moved downward, not realizing just what was happening until Sasuke couldn't hold back his voice anymore.

'_Mhm… Nah… oh God, Naru…to…' _

Scenes he had only heard were given life right in front of him. It was so vibrant, so vivid… he could see it happening. He could see the pale skin glistening, the lean muscles moving, a pale hand wrapped around throbbing hot flesh, stroking roughly as to mimic a craved, lewd exploit... He hadn't wanted to see those images ever, but now he did. The numbness the cold brought in murdered the last amount of common sense he had in him. Sasuke was actually on top of him, pleasuring himself to his face. Jerking off, masturbating, cocking the gun, choking the snake, call it whatever…

Freezing realization hit him. He was seeing it happening. Then it built up into something else. He felt dizzy; pictures started spinning around his mind. An image of dark grey eyes filled with relief, flashing between the one of a ringing phone, an ignored text message… Please. Please.

'_Bzz…Ngh—ah…you're…bzzz so fucking amazing… Fuck, you'll bzz…make me come…'_

He couldn't take it. He just couldn't take it anymore. The buzzing cold, the moaning, the numbness reached a point where he couldn't let it keep going. The touch… the picture, the moans…It was so vibrant, so vivid… _so alive._ He froze up. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. It just couldn't continue like this… he couldn't let it…

'…_ah, bzz, yes, yes…Naruto!'_

'_I'm coming… Yes, I'm… ngh, ah—N-Naruto!'_

"_Just stop it!_"

Naruto jerked up, sitting upright in his empty bed in the darkness of his apartment. The numbness ebbed away. The presence of his best friends that was there seconds ago dissolved into nothing. The buzzing flew away. The cold still remained, but he could breathe again. The pajama shirt was drenched with sweat, but still very much buttoned. His bed was a total mess, some pillows thrown onto the floor along with half his cover…

He had woken up.

It was with huge relief that he fell back down and rolled over, silently thanking whatever for being able to breathe again. Outside the storm was blowing up. They said it was going to pass over the next couple of days. Naruto immediately knew what was at fault for what he had just dreamt – mostly, anyway. But even after the cold of the wind-play dissolved and scattered into nothingness, the darkness of the room remained strangely chilly – strangely empty as he calmed his labored breathing. He felt strangely… alone.

'_Naruto…'_

…And guilty.

**-SasuNaru-**

Naruto blinked his eyes open to an infrequent sight of a beige ceiling, yet he was somewhat easily able to replace it as the ceiling of the school's nurse office. The vibrating sound of the air conditioner confirmed it. Turning his head slowly to his left he discovered the curtain separating the soft beds from the rest of the nurse's working place. What more he realized to his shock and surprise was that he was currently in one of those soft beds. And he was warm. Thinking back, he managed to place the day as Friday, and he remembered striving through biology and PE class (which he left barely standing). And then there was math…

His memory was still fuzzy at that part. He remembered freezing while his brain tried to function correctly through the pop-quiz Iruka handed them. There was too much sound, too much buzzing even in the isolated classroom. He looked around; suddenly noticing the lack of sound besides the humming coming from the A/C… his head was oddly empty.

He crooked an eyebrow over at the windows that showed the entire school yard, while wondering aloud, "What happened…?"

Another image flashed through his mind. He remembered slipping off of his desk, gaze glued to the concrete floor he was certain to meet. Then he remembered that no pain followed. Just murmuring voices as his head thumped against a warm body, toned arms keeping him pressed against a lean chest. He was lifted, there was no sense of gravity… and there was pale and ebony… there was the familiar musk smell of vanilla and cinnamon, a deep velvet voice asking for permission for something… piercing dark eyes glaring at the people around, then softening while glancing worriedly down at his face.

_Sasuke…_

Naruto abruptly sat up, suddenly very wary of his surroundings – and very aware of his state of clothing. He was still in his school uniform, but his tie was gone (placed on the nightstand to his left) and his shirt was mostly undone for some reason. An unwilling blush crept up his neck as the possible scenarios involving Sasuke as a factor played out in his head. The dream he had the night before helped supplying his fantasy. He quickly shook his head to get rid of any bordering thought. _No,_ he disagreed to his own assumptions, _Sasuke isn't like that. He wouldn't do anything like that to someone blacked-out._

Another voice chimed in on his thoughts. _Considering the situation, can you really say yourself certain of that?_

Naruto didn't get to form an answer before the door opened, cutting any attempt to reason with himself. Soon, the humming voice of the school's nurse floated through the room along with the light steps of her one inch heels. Not too long after, a dark haired female popped her head around the curtain, face lighting up in a gentle smile as she saw him looking back at her.

"Naruto-kun," she greeted, stepping around the curtain and bowing her head in display of respect. "Great to see you're awake. Are you feeling any better?"

"Oh… Shizune-san," he greeted back, recognizing the one school nurse he'd ever had an encounter with out of medical reasons. She was a pretty alright and very gentle lady, and not a reason to stay away from the nurse office. The reason had been the A/C, but he noted how the humming he heard didn't bring the immense source of cold buzzing he remembered it too. "Yeah, I'm fine… I guess…"

"I'm glad," Shizune answered as she stepped up to him, reaching up to place a delicate hand on his forehead. He flinched a bit as the relatively cold hand made contact with his warm skin. She hummed for a bit, before withdrawing her limb. "Well, you've come down to a normal body-temperature now. I swear you were overheating just fifteen minutes ago. It seems like you're going to be fine soon enough, though."

_Overheating…?_ The blond wondered to himself. "But I was freezing during math! How could I be overheating?"

"Well, I'm thinking you're taking on some symptoms of the sickness that's been going around now," Shizune explained for him. "Your body believes it's freezing, and therefore it produces more body heat, while in reality you're taking on a fever. In your case, it seems to have been a strong one, and I'm suspecting you haven't been taking in enough nourishment to suddenly black out like that…"

Shizune continued with her explanation, while Naruto tried to sort out the situation at hand. Getting sick wasn't the first idea he had in mind, and he was pretty sure he had been freezing cold. Kiba had commented on that earlier when he had grabbed his arm during the game of flying disc they had been playing during PE. Then he blacks out, only to go on overheat. That really didn't make any sense.

Shizune had finished her explanation long ago and was sorting through some papers when Naruto finally asked her something that had been bothering him since he had woken up. "Shizune-san…"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" the school nurse answered.

He swallowed. "How did I get here? After I blacked out, I mean."

She smiled widely this time. "Why, Sasuke-kun carried you here of course. He hurried in the door like the building was on fire and laid you over at the bed. He wouldn't leave until he was certain you weren't in a serious condition, and even spent his lunch hour and study hall period watching over you. He just left for class a few minutes ago. You're really lucky to have such a good friend, Naruto-kun."

The guilt came flowing back to him.

"Yeah," Naruto murmured, hoping the nurse didn't see him wincing. "I am."

**-SasuNaru-**

He inhaled a long breath, and exhaled one for just as long. The action was repeated as he clawed at his own sweaty palms, willing the sweat to go away. It helped calming his nerves a little, but they soon acted up on him again. He muffled a growl of frustration, and made himself calm down. He couldn't be upset at a time like this. Not now when he was about to make such an important move.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was about to do, after days of avoiding it. He trained his eyes on the electronic device where it laid innocently and untouched on the surface of his kitchen table. He took another deep breath, urging himself on. "Come on, Uzumaki… don't be a coward, now."

Shakily he reached out for the cellphone. Nearly touching the vibrant orange of the design, he hesitated, pulling his hand back. He tried swallowing the lump in his throat unsuccessfully, but finally took a bite of the sour apple. Fast, so that he wouldn't stop again, Naruto expertly dialed the all too familiar number he had memorized to the point where it was practically written in neon lights on his brain. At last his thumb hovered over the "Call" button. Not thinking twice he pushed down, before lifting the device to his right ear. Cobalt eyes gazed unsettling around the room as the soft hoots of the calling sequence played in his ear, not really looking at anything and yet unable to keep them in one place. He let go of the breath he had been holding, and bit down on his lip. His thumb twitched with the wish to reach out for the "End Call" button, but his will was stronger than the fear. This time, he couldn't let it continue to rule him.

The hoots continued. Naruto continued waiting. A sinking feeling developed in his stomach, as his mind developed the idea that the receiver of the call wasn't going to pick up. It was quickly doused, though. The familiar rustling sound of someone moving the phone up into the range of their ear and mouth replaced the hoots. Soon a voice spoke up on the line. Naruto stopped breathing.

"…_Uchiha Sasuke speaking. Who is it?"_

"…" _Fuck,_ Naruto screamed mentally as his voice refused to speak up. _Fuck, fuck, fuck—say something, dimwit!_

"…_Hello…? Is there anyone there?"_

Naruto panicked. _Come on, coward! He's going to hang up, think it's a prank… you just do it already, say anything! Hey, Sasuke, it's your fantasy boy toy calling! No, shit, don't say that… Bastard, it's your best-fucking-friend—no, no, no, not the fucking part! Shit, shit… um, just hello?_

"…_I'm hanging up now."_

His breath hitched, and his voice acted on impulse. It didn't sound as controlled as he wanted it to, and it didn't sound anything like what he wanted to say, but at least it was something. Even if that something was a small, hurried squeak that could be compared to that of a mouse.

"It's me." Naruto felt his throat go dry as only silence followed. For a few seconds, he thought that maybe his small desperate confirmation hadn't been heard.

"…_N…Naruto? Is that you?"_

Naruto let out a short humorless laugh. "Heh-he… Yeah. Me."

More rustling and shuffling sounded from the other line, as well as a muffled curse and something sounding like a door being closed. All the while Naruto could just about see Sasuke making his way through the majestic hallways and into his room, which was the only place in the whole house he had ever truly found peace when he wanted to get away from Itachi and his parents. Perhaps he had bumped into something on his way – probably the gold coated lion statue his mother had insisted to keep outside his bedroom. He couldn't help a small snort. Sasuke hated it. At the end of their sophomore year, he had trusted him to keep that small secret from his mother.

Unexpectedly after the lasting pause, Sasuke spoke again. "_Naruto,_" he repeated in his all too familiar voice. Naruto could no longer count how many different ways he'd heard his name from Sasuke – in irritation, concern, passiveness, blunt anger… and now even lust. He shuddered, reminded just why he was taking this phone call at all. Naruto let Sasuke open for conversation. _"I…just, you… Why are you calling?"_

It was almost comical how the Uchiha needed to gather himself, in Naruto's ears. He imagined the perplexed expression – much like one he had seen just a little over a week ago – was clear in his mind, as well as the pale fingers clutching the body of the cellphone. Naruto felt himself doing the same, holding nearly desperately onto the device just in case it would slip, and somehow break their connection… now that they finally had it.

Gathering himself, he answered the question. "Yeah, about that… I sorta just wanted to… say thank you."

"…_For what?"_

"Um, you know," Naruto fumbled for the correct words. "For… helping me to the nurse office today, after I…well, whatever I did. So, yeah… thanks."

The sound of rustling blankets told Naruto Sasuke had found a seat on his bed. Other than that silence followed. Nervousness returned to grip around his throat tightly. He felt his heart thump in synch with the mental clock he had running for the seconds they spent not saying anything. 4…5…6…7…

A sigh sounded from the other side. "_…what can I say? Someone had to. No one else seemed to know how to handle your fainted idiot ass anyway."_

The reply had Naruto stunned for a moment as he digested just what was said. Instead of blurting out in irritation like he knew his obnoxious self probably would, he felt a smile grow on his lips. Sasuke… he knew exactly how to push his buttons, and when to push the right ones. He snorted; the humor was genuine this time. "Heh… yeah, I guess."

Another silence – a slightly more comfortable one – crept in between them.

"…_how have you been?"_

The casual question caught him a bit of guard. "Uh… fine, I—" Naruto started, but stopped himself. No, now was not the time for throwing sugar in the salt. It was time to tell the truth, with no buttering up. Taking a deep breath, he let it out. "I've been hell, actually. A freezing one at that," he finally admitted, eyes trained on the floor as if Sasuke was right in front of him. "You…?"

"…_around the same. Definitely down there somewhere._"

A grin found its way to his face. "Oh? How come…?"

"_Hm… I guess it's partly because mom and Itachi are bothering me to bringing you for dinner again. They're convinced I killed you already and dumped your body in a river or something. Mom wanted to serve you a last meal, and Itachi is concerned about getting you a proper burial. Dad doesn't say anything, but he's hung up on the traces… he doesn't think I hid them well enough." _Naruto couldn't help but snort at that. He had a hunch he was sort of labeled "wanted" in the Uchiha family after not visiting for so long.

"I see… Now what I really wanted to ask: where _did _you dump it, Sasuke? I can't pass on to the other side before I know my dear remains are buried between the first emperor and some famous rock-star."

"_If those are the criteria, you'll be waiting a long time before crossing over, dobe,"_ Sasuke taunted. Naruto concealed another snort. "_Also, I've been running out of homework and extra assignments to pass my time on. I got this new movie from Itachi, but it's not very tempting to watch it alone… so without a certain idiot here to bother me I find myself oddly bored. And I…"_

Naruto sensed Sasuke wasn't going to finish that one. However, what he intended to say hung clearly in the air, drawing the guilt and longing into his consciousness. The blond sighed, closing his eyes to let the feeling flow through him again. "…I miss you."

The words confirmed something they both knew. That huge part of their lives that resolved around the other wasn't going to be replaced by anything – at least not anytime soon, and even if it was to happen the chunk wouldn't quite fit in the space designed only for that one person. What had happened, they needed to fix it somehow. Even with all the questions, all the fears, one feeling still stood mutual…

"_Yeah…" _Sasuke finally replied, _"me too."_

Naruto smiled sincerely. "So, you mentioned something about a new movie…"

He was amazed how easily the conversation formed and continued. Sure, a line of awkwardness still swung visibly in front of them, but Naruto couldn't help but nourish his social need from the jokes and insults they exchanged. A grin painted his face, only switched out for witty expressions he used to underline his comments. Even though Sasuke couldn't see them, he was sure the raven knew when he made them… just like he could imagine every twitch and change on Sasuke's face. Just like he always had been able to…

It was like nothing had ever happened.

Somehow, that thought was very unnerving. It made the whole thing they were doing now – being civil, talking – seem like one big fictional fantasy. They could pretend that everything was alright; hope that everything was going the right way, but to Naruto one question was still unanswered. The image of his best friend standing somewhat contently with his phone held up to his ear flashed with one of Sasuke bent over in concentration of immense pleasure, boundless pits of lust staring half lidded down on him…

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto mumbled softly, wanting the Uchiha's full attention for his next words. He gained a questioning hum, edging him to continue. Naruto hesitated.

"Why me…?"

The silence told him that Sasuke wasn't going to play dumb. He knew exactly what he was talking about. Yet, he elaborated.

"Why is it that you…? I mean, how… why do you _want_ me…like that?" Naruto felt his voice shrinking as he spoke. The last part was barely more audible than a whisper. But the question wasn't to be mistaken.

"…_Naruto_," after another silence, Sasuke spoke up. "_It's not… entirely like that."_

"Then _what_ is it?" Naruto countered. No answer followed, causing a frown to mar his features. "Not entirely, you say… but it's… also like that isn't it."

The cold statement drew a pleading response. "_Naruto…"_

'_Naruto…'_

A shudder went down his back. It was that same voice, that same begging tone… The yearning eyes were back. Black pits clearly relaying their message; they wanted to swallow him whole, touch him in ways his mind wouldn't have thought possible…it was so obvious, evident as oil against white marble in broad daylight. Why was Sasuke denying it?

"Don't say my name like that," Naruto said calmly, barely containing his shaking voice. To avoid having it cracking, he lowered it to a whisper. "Stop lying."

"_I'm not lying."_

"But you're denying it." Naruto gave a frustrated exhalation. "You know I know… what you did with…yeah. Is it really that hard to give me a straight answer?"

"…_yes. It is."_

"…fuck it, Sasuke!" Naruto bit out, slamming his fist into the wall conveniently placed in front of it. His frustration was getting the best of him. "Don't make this to fucking difficult! All I'm asking is why the heck you have been fantasizing about shoving your god damned...fuck, you know what I mean – and you won't even tell me why! Please, Sasuke, just tell me what the fuck I did…" _I don't want to run anymore._

A sigh sounded on the other line. _"…I can't."_

"You can't," Naruto repeated disbelievingly.

"_Yes,"_ Sasuke confirmed softly. _"Don't get me wrong… I want to. I really do. I just… don't think now is the right time."_

Naruto swallowed, attempting in vain to moisten his throat. "Then when is?" he asked, suddenly feeling a waves of exhaustion wash over him. "If not before, and if not now when I'm asking you to… when is the right time?"

The answer he received only disappointed him further. _"…I'm sorry."_

Silence…

"Fuck you, Sasuke."

The neutral tone woke a hurried response. _"Listen, Naruto…"_

"No. I'm hanging up."

His thumb moved to hover over the button once more. _"No, wait—Naruto, just wait a second!"_

"Good bye. See you at school."

"_Naruto, I—"_

_Beep, beep, beep…_

**-SasuNaru-**

No Monday morning had ever been as bad as this one in Naruto's opinion. Not on the terms of his alarm clock – he had woken up one hour early. Nor was it on the terms of any other morning ritual – he had enough time to make a warm breakfast. Not even homework was dragging him down – he had actually done it over the weekend. Physically, he was actually better than he'd been in days. However, his mind was still equal to the battlefield left after a century long war.

_I ran away again_. He frowned as the fact was the one clear thing he could comprehend in the mess of his thoughts. He was always running when it became too much. Why couldn't he for once find the will to stay and fight through the toughest battle? Why was he so… human? Didn't his ability define him as something a bit more extraordinary than that?

Naruto swore at himself. _I'm such a coward._

Outside that day, the air was damp with coming rain. The humid warmth was easily changed into sheer cold at the simplest breeze. Winter was approaching slowly. Naruto barely took notice of the fading autumn colors that gradually were fading into grey, and in the end of November, white. The walk along the white stone of the school's outer walls was to him a blurry picture of pavement and dead leaves. Glancing at his clock he noticed he still had five minutes until classes started. So he kept walking on the spinning plates of asphalt and white stones. He felt fine, a little light headed, but fine. He was just a couple of turns away from the gates.

To anyone possibly watching though, Naruto looked about to fall over.

_I need to stop running,_ Naruto concluded, suddenly feeling very dizzy headed. Grasping at the wall, he kept standing. _I need to see Sasuke._

Naruto kept walking. He had biology now, and then he'd see Sasuke in PE. It was blowing up around him. He reached the last corner, wobbly on his legs. Maybe they could skip PE and go to the greenhouse. That would be the perfect place. There'd be just the two of them, there'd be no winds… there'd be no running. He turned the corner. A powerful gale washed past him. His mind, in its mess, was not prepared for it.

Naruto never noticed that he fell against the wall, even though the pain in his hand told that he had scratched it badly. The ground was suddenly much closer. As a déjà vu, a deep velvet voice was raised, calling his name in sheer anxiety. His head thumped against a warm shoulder, clad in the white of the school's uniform shirt. Toned arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly to keep him from falling. It was warm, it was secure. It was safe, strong; it was vanilla, cinnamon; ebony, pale… and dark locks of hair brushing against his face, embracing him in a familiar scent, a familiar presence.

"Sasuke…"

The weight of his bag was removed from his shoulder. The strength which remained in him was used to lift his arms to a solid back, hands clenching desperately on the material of the shirt. He needed to keep him there, he was going to speak with him… the sooner the better… the warmth felt so good.

The voice spoke hushed, "It's alright. I've got you."

"S-Sasu…ke…" his voice was shaky with exhaustion. He couldn't black out now though. He still needed to tell him. "D-don't go anywhere… I've got you now… I need to… don't leave…"

"It's alright," the voice assured him once again. "I'm not going anywhere."

His vision blurred again. He was sleepy. The warmth kept spreading through him from his fingers, hi back, his face, his chest… everywhere they touched. He wanted to fall asleep like that. Fighting the needed rest, he forced his voice out again, trying to make anything coherent. "Help me… stop it…" he pleaded. "Stop…stop running... Don't let me run…"

The request was followed by Naruto's uneven breathing. The voice was raised again, speaking with soft humor this time. "You're barely in the shape for walking, idiot. I don't think keeping you from sprinting will be hard."

Naruto pouted against the white clad shoulder, murmuring his response into the fabric. "Bastard…"

The voice probably gave a smart-assed response to that, but whatever it was, Naruto never heard it. Unconsciousness had claimed him the moment he had thrown the last insult.

**-SasuNaru-**

"_Hey, Sasuke…Why me…?"_

…

"_Why is it that you…? I mean, how… why do you want me…like that?"_

"…_Naruto_…_It's not… entirely like that."_

"_Then what is it?"_

…

"_Not entirely, you say… but it's… also like that isn't it."_

"_Naruto…"_

"_Don't say my name like that…Stop lying."_

"_I'm not lying."_

"_But you're denying it."_

…

"_You know I know… what you did with…yeah. Is it really that hard to give me a straight answer?"_

"…_yes. It is."_

"…_fuck it, Sasuke! Don't make this to fucking difficult! All I'm asking is why the heck you have been fantasizing about shoving your god damned...fuck, you know what I mean – and you won't even tell me why! Please, Sasuke, just tell me what the fuck I did…"_

…

"…_I can't."_

"_You can't."_

"_Yes. Don't get me wrong… I want to. I really do. I just… don't think now is the right time."_

"_Then when is? If not before, and if not now when I'm asking you to… when is the right time?"_

"…_I'm sorry."_

…

"_Fuck you, Sasuke."_

"_Listen, Naruto…"_

"_No. I'm hanging up."_

"_No, wait—Naruto, just wait a second!"_

"_Good bye. See you at school."_

"_Naruto, I—"_

_Beep, beep, beep…_

"—_love you…"_

…

"…_damn it!"_

_**End Chapter**_

_**A/N: **_**Response is appreciated, but not required. Also, you know not to take anything I say for granted by now… don't expect an update in the next ten years! ^^"**

**...this chapter is far too long...damn.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**-Ai (TKCat)**


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